


Harry Potter and the Whole New World- Rising from the Ashes

by defiasstone2



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, World of Warcraft
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2018-03-25 06:02:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 110,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3799582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/defiasstone2/pseuds/defiasstone2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where Lord Voldemort is nowhere near the top of the Dark lord food chain, Harry is forced to lead the survivors of a world on the verge of destruction. As such a desperate plan is formed and the World of Warcraft will be shaken to its foundations by the Phoenix rising from the ashes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Standing in the middle of the battlefield that had once been the grounds of Hogwarts Castle, Harry was casting spells left and right with a speed and accuracy that most adult wizards would find hard pressed to match for even a short amount of time. It was brought on, of course, from several years of fighting for his life whilst_ _he was meant to be going to school and learning._

_  
_

_The fighting was bloody with Death eaters and dark creatures fighting students, order members and what remained of the loyal teaching faculty. Dolohov appeared in his vision and Harry moved easily through the melee to intercept him before the inner circle member could engage any of his allies._

_  
_

_He opened up with a cutting curse, stupefy and reducto combination, which flowed to the point that the three spells were almost a single stream of light, slamming into the semi-opaque shield that Dolohov raised in the moment it took for the spells to cross the battlefield._

_  
_

_Not giving the man time to pause, Harry carried on casting, remembering the reports that had been given of the terrible things the man had done over the previous year since Voldemort had effectively taken power.  Harry used the fury the memories generated, to give his spells a boost in power, continuing with the furious assault on Dolohov._

_  
_

_Harry’s last spell, a bombarda that could have levelled a small house, smashed through the death eaters shield and sent the man flying in three different directions. Summoning Dolohov’s wand, he had no time to celebrate his victory, as dark fire erupted towards him from his left._

_  
_

_He dodged, but the order member behind him wasn’t as luck; Eliphas Doge’s face contorted in a soul destroying scream, the image filling Harry’s mind even as he rolled to his feet, both wands moving in blurs of motion. He unleashed an onslaught of cutting and bombarding spells that would have overwhelmed any normal magical in a matter of seconds._

_  
_

_However, the flurry simply slammed into the golden shield that held within its confines his greatest enemy, whose in-human and snakelike face was twisted in a vicious smirk even as he raised his wand for his next spell._

_  
_

_“Harry Potter, we meet for the last time. I will end your resistance here and now... Avada Kedava!” And everything burst into green once more..._

  


The now 23 year old Harry Potter was on his feet in an instant; his wand ready in one hand whilst he fervently grasped the sword of Gryffindor in the other. He reached outwards with his magic automatically, through the walls and ground around him, searching for unfamiliar or obviously chaotic signatures that would indicate danger.

  


The events of six years before took more than a few moments to overcome, his magic flaring slightly as he got his emotions under control and realised where he was. It was dark, a single small candle flickering in the corner of the wrought stone room, providing the only light.

  


Sweat was pouring down his face, making his shoulder length raven black hair stick to his face in a matted pattern that blocked his emerald green eyed view even as he relaxed from his combat stance. Now wide awake, he knew that he would not be getting anymore sleep, so he brushed the hair from his face and stripped off his nightclothes, his muscles protesting as they always did these days, due to the constant running and fighting that he and the survivors had to endure.

  


Heading to the the shower block in the corner of the room, he stepped inside and felt the runes activate through the block, drawing on his magic to provide the energy required for the next part of the process. Stepping into the middle of the block, he stood at ease with his head held back slightly before he spoke the activation word, Flumen, for the runes.

  


They glowed for a second before coming to life, causing streams of conjured water to erupt and cover him in the perfectly heated liquid. The runes had been a product of his first four years after defeating Voldemort, before things truly went to hell, that is.

  


He had spent six months after the battle of Hogwarts recovering, rebuilding and mourning the lost, not to mention hunting down the few remaining militant death eaters that remained at large. They had lost so many in that battle and the reign of Voldemort from the year before, even those whom survived carried the wounds of the conflict.

  


He absently traced the various scars on his chest; the largest of which stretched from his left shoulder to just below his stomach, courtesy of Fenrir Greyback. The werewolf had mauled him heavily during the battle outside the former Riddle mansion, which occurred when Harry and his newly formed strike force, the British Strike Group, managed to corner Greyback and his remaining werewolf followers.

  


The battle had been fierce but once it was over, every member of the inner circle of Death eaters had been dealt with in one way or another. With magical Britain on the mend, even if it was very slowly, Harry reluctantly took up the mantle as Britain’s International Confederation of Wizards (ICW) representative whilst the rest of the order concentrated on helping the organisation of the new ministry.

  


It had either been taking the representative’s post or taking a department head job at the ministry, something Harry wished to keep as far away from as he could. He had arrived the first conference held in Bern, Switzerland, ready to plead for the assistance of the other nations in the rebuilding of his country, sure that they would understand what the problem was and be more than happy to send assistance.

  


It did not take him long to realise that there would be no aid from the continent and he could very much understand why. It turned out that Voldemort, for all his pomp and vanity was not even considered a minor threat to the stability of the wizarding world, not in comparison to some of the actual dark lords out there who took their darkness to a far far greater extreme.

  


This was proved infinitely true when one of the European dark lords, a Spanish dark wizard known as Vaquis, ‘The Flesh Moulder’, decided to invade the second ICW meeting Harry had attended. He announced his arrival by slaughtering his way through the aurors and hit wizards from a dozen countries that had been on guard with a skill and power that dwarfed Voldemort’s considerably.

  


And that was not to mention the array of dark spells that Harry had never encountered before that the man threw around like stunning spells. One of these spells, the cadaver fingunt, was how Vaquis had gotten his moniker and literally combined corpses of the dead together to create undead monstrosities that was both magic resistant and very difficult to take down physically.

  


Harry, being his usual heroic self had of course thrown himself into the fight alongside the surviving security wizards against the dark lord and his growing army of creations, and got completely annihilated. He had been faster and far more mobile than the older wizard, but Vaquis had batted aside or deflected any spells that had been thrown at him and though Harry managed to take down most of corpses with transfigured wreckage and fire, Vaquis was a different story.

  


Vaquis dealt with the majority of the remaining security wizards whilst Harry had been preoccupied with his abominations before pummelling Harry into a corner of the conference and blasting him through several walls and out of the building with a large amount of pure magical energy. Harry had survived due to his charmed clothing which took the worst of the damage, and he had given time for the ICW members to evacuate from the threat, so it had been worth the broken legs and shattered arm at least.

  


With his usual sense of heroism now at the forefront of his persona and burning with a desire to take down the wizard who had so roundly defeated him, Harry had returned to Britain and called his most trusted allies together. Ron and Hermione, George and Ginny Weasley, Susan Bones, Terry Boot and Luna Lovegood were amongst the group that he gathered at Grimmauld place that night, with one or two people that he knew surprised the others thrown in.

  


The look on Ron’s face when first Tracey Davis, Blaise Zabini and then Daphne Greengrass appeared through the fireplace of the reconstructed Grimmauld Place had actually caused Harry to open two of his recently healed cuts due to his exuberant laughing. Despite the protests, again mostly from Ron, Harry had put his foot down and insisted that the three now graduated Slytherins become part of his revitalised task force.

  


Using Voldemort's followers as an example, Harry had stressed that the tarnishing of Slytherin house would only lead to more of that house joining forces with any fledgling dark lord to get a chance at revenge. Therefore things needed to be changed and this group was as good a way of doing it as any.

  


With the trouble on the continent such that even the ICW wasn't a safe gathering place, it was only a matter of time before trouble came back to Britain in force.  Therefore Harry wished to strike preemptively, training and doing missions in conjunction with the government of France to deal with their illegal smugglers and dark wizards in preparation for taking on the international dark wizards that had made Europe their territory.

  


He cleared it with the French ministry in less than a week, who were more than happy to have someone else do their dirty work for them. Whilst Harry was doing this Hermione commandeered almost all of the Department of Mysteries staff who owed her or Harry favours to help her with setting up, warding and reinforcing a base of operations in the Pennines of Northern England. That base was where they were now, and Harry had to admit that when Hermione got something going, she did it properly to a level Harry had never imagined when envisioning the project and selling the idea to her.

  


Originally created for fifty people to live, train and house their families in times of crisis, with a separate add on facility for the holding and interrogation of prisoners, The Vault certainly lived up to the codename that Harry had come up with when devising the project with the others. The base of the structure had been constructed almost 500 m below ground in the depths of the mountain chain, with magic runes and spells providing air, water and air in vast supplies.

  


These runes and spells drew on the increased natural magical energy of the ground around them to keep the runes functioning without requiring manual power ups. The ways in and out of the Vault were by portkey or specifically created gate spells that Hermione had created for the task over the course of the first six months of missions.

  


Whilst The Vault was being excavated with the help of a small group of dwarves that had agreed to help in exchange for protection from the goblin clans, the ‘warriors’ of the group were training with the auror department and hit wizards. Both groups pushing themselves to their limits under the authority of Arthur Weasley who had become Minister in the aftermath of the conflict, in a wave of popularity that came with the victors of the battle of Hogwarts endorsing him to the adoring wizarding public.

  


The memory of Terry’s face came to the fore even as he pulled upon his magic to stop the shower without a word, leaving rivulets slowly disappearing off his muscular chest as he stood still for a moment, using occlumency to contain his emotions roaring to the forefront of his mind as he remembered the next part. Unfortunately for the new group there had been a traitor or spy in the ranks, probably within the French ministry.

  


This became obvious and that they had found out about his plan of a wizarding strike force and had relayed it to the French wizards that had been the targets. Their response was brutal and in many ways the same way of acting as the death eaters had in the years beforehand.

  


They attacked Terry’s house whilst he had been home visiting his parents and little sister with Susan Bones accompanying him on Harry’s instructions, the idea being that everyone travelled in pairs to be a harder target for any attackers. Terry had fought like a true warrior, taking down a at least four of his assailants and holding the remainder off for a time after they had knocked Susan unconscious with their first attacks. It was almost three minutes before Harry had arrived, having been alerted by the wards that had been placed at every members home, but by then it was too late. Susan was gone, Terry’s parents dead and Terry bleeding out from an entrail exploding curse in the smallest bedroom where he had been protecting his sister.   
  


The only good news about the whole situation was that Terry’s sacrifice allowed his sister to survive. Clearing up the results had revealed more than enough information to Harry. There was a message attached to Terry’s mothers corpse and written in the dead woman's own blood, stating in really bad English that if Harry wanted to see Susan again he would come alone to the grid coordinates provided unarmed.

  


Harry had wanted to go after them right there and then, his blood and magic singing with fury and crying for the deaths of those that had done this to his friends once more, but he had business to deal with first. Taking Terry’s sister in his arms hadn’t been hard considering the girl was in a state of shock, and he had created portkeys for the bodies before whisking them all off to Grimmauld place.

  


From there he had called Arthur and told him in biting words what had happened, and that he should warn all of the others to head to Grimmauld place until he was back. To the older Weasleys credit he had only tried to talk him out of it once before nodding wearily and letting him end the call. Leaving the Elder wand in his room and donning his battle robes, armour and equipment in a fashion that was almost too automatic for his liking, Harry was ready for conflict.

  


Just before he left Harry fire-called Hermione, who had been working on the Vault project at the Department of Mysteries. The ecstatic expression when she spotted his face in the corner of her packed office turned to concern before he even started to speak, the young woman capable of understanding him almost to the point that words were no longer necessary.

  


Stepping out of the shower Harry dried himself with a drying charm with barely a thought, it was just something that he had gotten down to a subconscious reaction over the past  few years. He still did most of the mundane tasks such as dressing and cleaning without magic if he wasn’t in a rush in order to not become complacent as many wizards did when they depended on their magic too much. But today was a very important day and as such the earlier he was ready the better, especially considering how dangerous it could quickly become.

  


Summoning his clothes, Harry remembered morbidly using a portkey from Dover to the designated area to find himself held at wand point almost instantly by almost a dozen wizards whilst half a dozen more were stood off to one side with Susan bound and gagged, but otherwise fine stood with them. They had searched him thoroughly and when they had found that he had no wand on him they had laughed before taunting him in French that he had not understood.

  


That was their first mistake, the second being that the ones standing with Susan had relaxed at this statement and released her to talk with each other. Over the course of his time at Hogwarts Harry had become quite fed up with his friends being held hostage and being outnumbered by older and more experienced wand users. Therefore he had done some work of his own once he discovered his wandless magic ability, something that Hermione attributed to the strength of his magical core now that the horcrux that had been leeching off of it was gone. One of the French wizards standing next to him noticed his smirk and obviously realised that something was wrong, but even as he raised his wand Harry acted, slamming his right foot into the ground hard enough to make himself wince; even as his magic poured out and he unleashed his emotions.

  


The Earthen spikes spell, or fictili spicis as he termed it for completeness’ sake was one of his most powerful and exhausting spells both magically and mentally. He literally took control of the earth with his magic, transferring and magnifying the momentum he had provided with his foot. Harry then used the earth and impaled every wizard in the group standing around Susan in less time than it took for the man to start incanting his first spell.

  


It was certainly one of his bloodier spells, as gore covered Susan from the dead around her. It was not over however as Harry finished his spell with a thought, the Earthern spikes grew further and formed a dome around her. This was to protect her from the remaining wizards, leaving him to duck in a laboured manner under the first offensive spell. With a flick of his wrist the runes in the sleeves of his jacket activated, releasing the sword of gryffindor into his left hand as he recovered from the vast use of magic he had just expended.

  


The blade had gone missing in the aftermath of the golden trios visit to gringotts in his seventh year, only for Fawkes to appear in a ball of flame the day before the final battle with the blade in its claws. The phoenix had given him a look similar to Dumbledores twinkling smile before disappearing and leaving the blade for him to wield once more. Harry had spun, the goblin made blade cutting three of them down in one strike even as he used the energy of his shifting feet to summon more earth spikes, smaller ones that injured two more of them, his eyes glowing with the magic usage he was pulling off.

  


Keeping any alive for interrogation never even entered Harry’s mind at the time, and many times as he looked back upon it he wished it had. They could have changed things so much the better if they had been given better information on the dark lords and their movements from the start.  But his blood was singing, his primal magic in tune with his emotions and boosting his wandless magic prowess even more.

  


The kidnappers got off three spells as he moved amongst them slicing and stabbing with his sword, all of the spells missing as he ducked, dodged and rolled his way through them before leaping to his feet and unleashing his magic to both fell the remaining two wizards and release Susan from her Earth shield.

  


He fell to the ground gasping as his body started to shut down at the sheer level of magical usage in such a short time period. He remained barely conscious enough to undo the bindings on Susan, wordlessly trusting her to return them home as darkness claimed him and he collapsed into unconsciousness.

  


He had woken in this very room in the care of Madame Pomfrey, who had in addition to being school nurse had also taken up teaching healing magic to all those interested, which included a large proportion of his strike force. Being used as a examination dummy for the signs and symptoms of ‘one of the worst cases of magical exhaustion I have ever seen, what did I tell you in first year Mr Potter?’ had been a rather painful experience, but that had nothing on the reactions of Hermione, Susan and Ginny when Pomfrey was done.

  


Ron had taken one look at the situation and performed one of the fastest tactical withdrawals that Harry had ever seen from the gangly redhead, muttering something about talking about strategies and training later whilst leaving him to his rather unenviable fate. Whilst Ginnys fire spitting rant had certainly cowed him and Hermiones jumping between worried fretting and inquisitive shock had been more than enough to remind him of the dangers, it had been Susans crying and weak beating of his chest whilst burying her head in his shoulder that had been the breaking point.

  


It had reduced him to apologising ceaselessly to the three witches in no time and after a small amount of fretting the three had gathered into a large group hug on his bed. He knew that one of them, he wasn’t sure which, had expanded the bed silently to allow all of them room to move in, there was no way that the bed would have fitted them all in otherwise. Waking up to find the amused face of Ron who simply cocked his eyebrow at the three sleeping witches, snorted and wagged his finger before turning and heading out of the room and leaving the four of them to themselves.

  


After two days of recovery, Harry returned to France with a vengeance, leading the strike force against the targets that the French government highlighted to them with a primal fury that he had never felt before. He found himself more and more in tune with the ground around him, earth and stone molding more easily and effectively to his wishes, leading to him gaining the moniker ‘Fury of the Earth’ as he carved a swathe through the underworlds of France and Switzerland over the course of a year and a half.

  


It was not to say that he became a heartless killer, in many cases those wizards who were not actually practicing dark magic intensively were captured and handed over to the french authorities or allowed to flee the country or even join his team if it was obvious that they were doing it out of no other choice. Examples of this were the werewolves that he often found working as guards or labourers at the various holdings that the strike team cleared out.

  


Harry’s actions catapulted him back into the front of the press once more, though after the whole Voldermort fiasco and helping to clean up the aftermath he was now capable of dealing with the press.  One of the things he refused to allow leeway on was that only his name would be published in regards to the stories of the strike force. The less that was known about the identities of the forces members the better in his opinion, he had far too many friends deaths on his hands as it was without putting them at further risk. He also kept out the information that the strike force was making use of modified muggle weapons, as was suggested by Hermione  when Harry had been griping about the magic resistance that many of the dark creatures possessed.

  


The reason it was kept quiet was to avoid angering any of the conservative light groups who saw muggle weapons as vulgar and barbaric, a viewpoint that none of them had considered or worried about until Daphne had brought it up in her usual assertive and formal tone. It was also the moment that finalised the girls rise to one of Harry’s close advisors in the task force, along with Hermione, Ron and Ginny of course.

  


Of course Harry and his strike forces actions attracted a lot of attention, both good and bad in nature. Young wizards and witches flocked from across the world to join him and his strike force, believing in righteousness or with their own vendettas to finish with those who would use dark magic.  But then came the ambushes, attempted assassinations and attacks on Britain, his enemies deciding to strike at those he cared about as they couldn’t strike him directly.

  


It took him another two years of investigating, fighting and hunting to truly remove the dangerous dark magic users from France and the Netherlands, and the battles had not all gone his way. George had been left blinded by a dark curse, Alicia Spinnet had been killed in one of the attacks on Diagon Alley along with Cho Chang and Michael Corner, and those were just the casualties that he knew well, dozens of others both magical and non-magical had borne the brunt of his conflict.

  


With these deaths wearing down on his conscience more and more each day, when word arrived of a gathering of some of the most powerful dark wizards on the continent through his network of informers and spies, Harry had wasted no time. Gathering the best and most powerful of his allies to him, he determined to end this once and for all. The meeting was to take place in the catacombs beneath Rome, and with almost forty of the best light wizards from around the world at his back, Harry was sure that the long conflict would end that day.

  


And it had, after a fashion he thought wryly as he stepped from his room into the crowded corridor dressed in his light basilisk skin armour which shown with a dark green light of enchantment. It was a two piece suit that covered every inch of his skin from below the neck to the ankles and was complemented with dragonscale boots.  He greeted the refugees he passed as warmly as he could, many of them shaking his hand and thanking him through teary smiles for saving their lives.

  


He resisted the derogatory urge to snort at the gratefulness, it was after all his fault for the most part that the world had fallen to the state it was in, with the 2000 refugees based here at The Vault comprising of the majority of the worlds remaining human population. They had made good progress initially through the catacombs, the corpse guards and other dark wards slowing them down but thankfully not causing them any casualties.

  


Then they came across the main chamber, which had almost one hundred dark wizards and their sacrifices inside. Thirteen of the dark wizards were performing some kind of ritual with the sacrifices in a large circle inside the pentagram that covered the entire room. Seeing one of the sacrifices suddenly scream as her soul was ripped from her body and disappearing into a dark ball of magic above them, Harry decided that action was necessary and charged into the room, wand blazing even as his men followed him.

  


It was a bloodbath on both sides with the dark wizards defending the ritual participants with all of their repertoire; necromancy, blood curses and chaotic magic being amongst some of the more common spells that were thrown against Harry and his allies. About five minutes into the battle Harry spotted Vaquis engaging Professor Flitwick with his reanimated corpses and dark spells, leaving the charms teacher on the back foot as he dodged and cartwheeled through the melee around him.

  


Summoning an earth spike from the ground next to him, Harry banished it towards Vaquis who barely dodged the sneak attack, leaving the spike to take out one of his animations and pin it to the canyon walls. The returning entrail exploding curse brought back memories of Terry’s death, though he had never been able to prove it Harry had often suspected that Vaquis had been involved in the attack on Terry’s family. The familiar fury built inside of him and the earth of the chamber shuddered slightly as his magic bubbled from his frame.

  


There was no taunting or battle banter that Dumbledore and Voldemort had been so fond of, both sides of the battle being forced to withdraw somewhat to avoid the flurries of earth and waves of magic that batted back and forth between the two of them as both remained wholly focused on the other wizard.

  


Walking through the expanded living areas Harry wondered if it had been that focus that had caused the cataclysm, he certainly hadn’t noticed at the time that one of his earthen spike volleys had ended up killing two of the dark wizards that had been a part of the ritual. Now normally these rituals have a failsafe mechanism involved that would shut down the spell should something happen to one of the participants, but this one was obviously not created with safety in mind.

  


The first Harry knew about it was when his magic sense screamed at him. The ritual had destabilised and taken not only the souls of the sacrifices in a single moment but those of the dark wizards that had been controlling it, causing the ball to contort and grow in size far beyond its original size, and it show no signs of slowing down as it began to consume the roof and floor of the catacomb room. Vaquis was either not paying attention or not caring about the rituals result as he continued to assault Harry’s defences with the same ferocity and skill he had always used.

  


With no way of catching his breath long enough to break through the magical barriers that hindered apparition, Harry gave the order to retreat to the surviving light sided wizards, severely underestimating the final result of the magic’s growth. It was only when he felt someone attach something to his cloak and push him to the side out of the way of a dark strangulation curse did he realise that only he, Vaquis and Ron remained in the chamber which was about to be entirely engulfed by the magical anomaly.

  


As Ron began to engage Vaquis Harry forced himself back to his feet, only for Ron to cast him a look that communicated more than any words, an apology, a request and a goodbye all wrapped up into one. That was the last he would ever see of his first true friend as the portkey the redhead had attached to his body as he had pushed him out of the way activated, punching through the weakened wards and depositing him in the safe house in Milan that they had set up in preparation for the assault.

  


Rome was almost entirely destroyed by the time the anomaly stabilised, though its growth had slowed enough that the majority of the city's denizens managed to evacuate before it consumed their homes. As well as Ron, the casualty list included Kingsley Shacklebolt, Francois Delacour and Professor Flitwick, with less than ten of the strike force making it home in time to hear the news that signified the beginning of the end of life as they knew it.

  


He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he entered the command room of The Vault, greeting the familiar faces with a weary countenance that was present with all of those that regularly stepped out into the wasteland above ground. Hermione was stood by the main command table, which she had long enchanted to act as a holographic map she had seen in futuristic sci-fi films. Her once long bushy hair had been cut short to just below the ears and her pretty face had become drawn and pale over the course of the three years since losing Ron.

  


The two of them had continued dating for a few months after the final battle, but without the constant distraction of fighting the death eaters and hunting the horcruxes their arguing had continued to intensify. In the end they had agreed that it just didn’t work between the two of them and returned to being friends, much to the relief of Harry and their other friends who more often than not ended up in the firing line of the two’s sniping matches. They had still argued but there was a lot less heat in their fights. It took Harry quite a long time to get Hermione out of the state she had been in after Ron had died, especially with how she felt responsible for his death.

  


She had asked Ron to ensure Harry came home safe from the mission to Rome, something that the Weasley had taken as an oath even though the words had not been spoken, a nobility that both gifted and cursed the Weasley line in equal measure. She had collapsed when she saw Harry amongst the group of survivors but not Ron, blaming herself for Ron’s actions even though Harry knew that Ron would have done the same regardless. Walking over and wrapping his arm around Hermione’s shoulders he pulled her into a gentle embrace as he surveyed the map in front of them.

  


“Is this the target then? Is the device ready for use now?” She nodded tiredly without saying anything and he knew that though it was obviously the only way for them to ensure their survival she definitely did not enjoy the prospect of him leading an attack on one of the most dangerous above ground areas for an experiment that might not even work. Another voice, much younger and less weary responded as Ellen Boot walked up to the map from the other side of the room where she had been looking at one of the magically created data displays.

  


She was 3 years younger than Harry and standing half a foot smaller at 5’4, with cropped red-brown hair that just reached her neckline, her skin pale even when accounting for the fact she had not seen the light of the sun in almost 2 years. Her low lying cheeks were dotted lightly with freckles that framed her petite nose and sapphire blue eyes.

  


She also had a set of very elfen like ears, a result of accidental magic when she had been young and completely in love with the idea of the lord of the rings and one that she had refused to let them change back. But just like Luna’s almost ethereal look it did not make the girl look ill or unpretty, the number of young male refugees that were interested in her made that obvious enough, though she had no time for them with her work in the command room in addition to working with Hermione on various projects.

  


He had adopted her in all but name and she looked up to him as a big brother to replace Terry, something that Harry was happy to be in place of the man who had joined him in the final battle against Voldemort despite the insistence of his house mates.  

  


“This is the best target within easy apparition distance of the Vault Harry. Its small, out of the way but seems to have what we are looking for. You are sure you want to do this by yourself, I mean Luna and I could find some ethereal hamster monks around here that could assist you I am sure?” Both Hermione and Harry nodded at the same time at Ellen’s question, both glancing at each other and smiling slightly as they did so.

  


It was hard not to chuckle at Ellen and Luna’s rather amusing eccentricities, though Ellen seemed to keep her creatures to the mundane in essence whilst Luna still created new creatures monthly with ever more interesting names.

  


Shaking his head to remove the mental image of a load of robed hamsters following his orders and kicking ass, he tried to focus once more. As one of the most experienced and able of the survivors, Harry had learnt a long time ago that one person could get a lot further through the wasteland with less risk of discovery than a group of people, even if all of them were as experienced as he was. That was especially true with him, his invisibility cloak was still far better than any disillusionment spell amongst the knowledge or skills of the survivors.

  


It was Hermione who spoke up as Harry concentrated on the map, taking in buildings, ruins and the geography of the area so that he could work out the best angle of approach.

  


“He has to go alone Ellen, as much as I don’t like the idea I certainly couldn’t think of anyone else that would be able to get there and then back if the plan doesn’t work. If the plan does work we also only have one device that would be capable of transporting the wearer safely through dimensions without anything set up at the other end. And of course, the idiot is too stubborn and heroic to let anyone else try.”

  


Harry couldn’t help but chuckle at that, not even trying to dodge the irritated swipe from the bushy haired genius, she did after all have a point.

  
“Hermione’s right, with the Elder wand and my elemental abilities i have the necessary brute force to pull off a self extraction should I need to. Now come on, lets get this going, every hour we waste is another hour that our problem becomes even greater, and that is something we can definitely not afford....”


	2. From Earth to Ashes

_The Burning Legion, that was the name of the demonic tide which enveloped the world, or that is what the few prisoners and survivors told Harry and his forces at any rate. It turned out that Rome had not been the only ritual taking place in Europe, let alone all over the world. With further gates opening all the time it had been hard to pinpoint the initial entrance gates, but Hermione estimated there were probably 273 of them and Harry trusted her enough not to question where she had gotten the number from._

_The gates seemed to be based on areas where the earths Ley lines converged or crossed, drawing energy from the Earths own magic to maintain the magic required to assist in the gating of more Burning Legion troops. By themselves these gates wouldn't have been enough, the muggle militaries quickly mobilising to deal with the hordes of demons that rampaged through the streets of many of their major cities._

_But the Legion and their minions had obviously been preparing for these events well before the rituals occurring, with human followers implanted throughout the world in various important locations where they could do the most damage. The American president, Barack Obama was assassinated even as he held an emergency war council about the incursion, the assassin taking out most of the rest of the top American thinkers and Generals before being gunned down by security forces._

_The same happened elsewhere throughout the world, cultists sabotaging military units and their supplies, assassinating commanders, Countries leaders and other important personnel and informing their demonic masters of weaknesses in the human forces that could be exploited. These actions crippled any level of international response to the encroaching army, but the true danger came days later as entire cities began to fall ill._

_The cultists had also coordinated a release of a highly virulent and lethal toxin they simply referred to as 'the plague'. It was tasteless, odourless and magical in nature, so there was no way for humans to detect it, and it proved deadly even in small doses. Within three weeks half the Earth's human population was dead, only to rise from their deaths to follow the whims of the Burning Legions command._

_Africa fell quickly, the demons easily able to overrun the relatively unorganised and under trained military forces that did stand against them. South America held on for a time, using the advantageous natural terrain to their advantage as they fought defensively against the demons. Europe was divided, with Eastern Europe falling under the demons sway quickly whilst the NATO countries mobilised all their forces to try and destroy the gateways in their own countries before turning their attention to the rest of the world._

_Throwing the Statute of Secrecy to the wind Harry brought the British strike force to the frontlines of the battles in England, fighting alongside the muggle forces with no sense of secrecy or hiding their powers. The Legion had several gateways based throughout the British Islands, with the main ones based at the Giants Causeway, Azkaban and Stonehenge. The forces from stonehenge had stormed straight for London, and despite two weeks of valiant defensive fighting by the muggle forces the demons slammed through into the city itself._

_Harry had been too busy leading troops to crush the plague outbreaks throughout the rest of the country so that they were only fighting on three fronts as opposed to dozens. However, he was able to convince Arthur Weasley via Floo to evacuate the ministry to Hogwarts rather than remain where they were once the demons broke through to central London. The now aged wizard had supposedly seen to the evacuations of each department personally. Then Arthur armed himself with dragonhide and an extra wand, leading the Aurors to defend both the magical areas of St Mungos and Diagon alley._

_The Floo call had been the last that Harry had seen of the Elder Weasley who had become so much like a pseudo father figure to him both during and after Hogwarts. The surviving aurors reported that he had engaged the newly classified 'dreadlord' class of demon in the collapsing ruins of the St Mungos atrium to give them and the hospital staff time to flee._

_Considering the dreadlords were considered the most intelligent and dangerous of the humanoid demons, leading lesser demons and only stepping personally into battle when they saw an opening or were needed to crush particularly stubborn resistance, Harry felt that Arthur had at least gone out in a worthy manner._

_With the fall of the ministry it was only a matter of time before London fell entirely and the remaining military leaders, both magical and muggle, convened a council at Oxford as how best to act next. Harry didn't attend the meeting, sending the well spoken and charming Blaise Zabini in his place as he struck out at the demon gate at Azkaban. The Island fortress had probably seemed an ideal location for the demons to use as a staging point for their invasion, and Harry was determined to prove them wrong._

_With the assistance of one of the surviving clans of Gringotts goblins, who had finally accepted Harry's offer of asylum when the demons finally stormed the ground floor of gringotts, Harry obtained the services of a black Friesian Darkwing dragon. Smallest of all the known dragon species being barely twice the size of a horse, it was very swift of wing and very hard to spot or detect. Using it to slip past demon patrols, Harry managed to land on the northernmost edge of the island._

_What followed was probably the largest single use of magical power in the last millenium, with Harry physically sinking the island beneath the waves, tearing apart the fortress and the gates within it with huge flurries of earthen magic that he had been storing for months in the form of runes and scrolls of power._

_The use of so much magic and its coursing through his magical core had its downsides however, and if not for the Darkwing lifting his comatose body from the small perch he had left floating for him to stand on Harry would have probably died there either to the waves or vengeful demon patrols._

_It took Harry three weeks to recover from the event, the British forces managed to take out the Giants causeway gate as well, but at the cost of many lives and equipment. This would have been a great turning point for the humans, if the rest of the world was doing anywhere near as well. The American forces had been the focus of the demon assaults, with more gates opened there than anywhere else, and a year into the conflict the muggle government was left with no choice but to try and use their nuclear weapons on their own country, in an effort to stem the tide of attackers._

_Unfortunately most of the magical communities in the U.S and the rest of the world had decided that the best chance of surviving the invasion was to simply hide away from the attacking demons, trusting in their magical wards and hidden entry ways to keep them safe from the encroaching horde. Therefore when the nukes dropped thousands of magicals were instantly killed, the muggle government not having known that they were in the blast range._

_For those that survived there was if possible a worse fate awaiting them as the nukes had little effect outside of their initial blast areas, neither the undead or demons showing adverse effects to the radiation subject to them. Soon there were groups of Fel Hounds scouring the countryside and stripping the magic from their wards like gluttons at a feast._

_The demons were even intelligent about dealing with the wizards, bringing traitor mages to each location as they were discovered and weaving anti apparation and portkey wards to ensure that those inside would not escape the ravening hordes that waited outside._

_Refugees from the continent slowly poured into Britain by any means they could, air, boat or even through the channel tunnel, fighting their way through demon forces to the British held points that had slowly retreated to Birmingham as the numbers of demons and undead slowly overcame the conventional armed forces that was arrayed against them._

_Regardless of the odds against them, the humans continued to fight against the demons for another two years, with Britain slowly becoming the last true point of resistance as first America, China and then Germany fell under the sway of the Legion. With the battleground becoming focussed to the singular country, the Legion could commit its most dangerous troops to the fight._

_Doom guard, Pit lords and Pit fiends arrived in their droves, shattering the defences laid before them and spearheading the onslaught through England into Scotland. Hermione had foreseen this eventuality, even if the more stubborn military forces refused to listen to her and made a heroic if pointless last stand. Hermione had expanded the Vault to house more refugees,as well as setting up five other facilities which were much larger, two for human survivors, one for magical creature survivors and the last for food production._

_With the Burrow which was the magical creature hold, there had been several groups that had refused to join them underground. Specifically the centaurs had refused to leave their forest, fighting to the last as the forbidden forest burned down around them as they claimed the stars had told them that this was the end of Earth._

_With the Legion devouring Earths magic and resources to replace the losses of their army, it was only a matter of time before their world would become unlivable even with their magic to help sustain them. From captured demons they found that they were not the only world being assaulted by the Legion, there were other worlds holding their ground against the demonic forces._

_Therefore the plan was simple, use a beacon to locate a viable world and transport someone across to find a suitable place for the rest of the refugees to gate to as well. Of course, there were the natives of the new world to deal with, but Hermione and the others were sure that they would become allies against their mutual enemy the Legion. Harry, having seen the disagreements that still flared up between the magical races despite the Legion threat, couldn't be quite so sure..._

**Chapter 1: From Earth to Ashes.**

Harry stepped softly over the cracked and broken earth, invisibility cloak not impeding his progress in the slightest as another group of satyr demons passed by him. Their cackling grated painfully on Harry's nerves but he knew he needed to maintain control of his magic and emotions. As if on cue there were a pair of soul rending howls away to the east of him, and the ambient magic in the air around him began to drop noticeably.

The Felhounds responsible for the magic drain loped over the hill a moment later, three of the beasts with their gaping maws open wide and sensing tendrils flailing in the manner they often used when encountering powerful magic such as Harry's. The beasts could sense his magic even when he tried his best to minimise the emissions, but with the invisibility cloaks powers he couldn't be sensed precisely.

Sneaking forwards closer to the hounds, Harry waited until the Satyrs passed completely over the hill and outside of easy hearing range. He knew he would have to deal with the Felhounds that were still sniffing around the area, before they decided to alert their far more formidable masters to the presence of his magic.

Flowing his magic into the ground through his magically conducting boot soles, Harry waited until the trio grouped together for a moment before having hands made of earth grab their paws and dragging them all down into the earth. The largest of the three managed to get a terrified whine out of its mouth before it was cut off by the encroaching earth, but no one came to investigate as Harry focussed further and crushed the beasts thirty feet below the ground.

Harry fell to one knee panting slightly as his magic drained as the earth's weakening magical fields meant more magic was drawn from him instead of from the ambient magics. The reason he performed such a tiring piece of magic however was that if the demons found the corpses killed in any of his usual fashion they would know that it was him that they were dealing with, in which case stealth was no longer required in the slightest.

Whilst he could probably destroy all resistance between him and the portal in an open fight, it would leave him too tired to anchor himself to the beacon that he carried in an expandable pouch on his waist, and thus the entire effort would be pointless. As such he carried on forwards in the direction of the small demon camp surrounding one of their summoning portals, the target of his operation here. His ear grew warm for a moment before Ellen's voice came through, the woman using a modified marauders map that could track his progress under the invisibility cloak.

"Harry, that looks to be the only group of Fel hounds in the area. With our attacks on the Manchester area in the previous week the Legion have obviously moved their assets to handle us if we attack there again." The attacks on Manchester, which not only destroyed two portals and killed hundreds of demons, also managed to rescue 40 survivors who had been surviving in the sewer systems that they had not known were there. As such it had seemed to really annoy the demon forces who were still trying to pacify Harry and his 'phantoms' as the demons had taken to calling them. It had been one of Hermiones ideas in the build up to the project, and if it had worked as well as it seemed Harry was going to give her one hell of a thank you when he got back. Reaching up for his ear in the manner a muggle would their earpiece, he spoke quietly as he reached the brow of the hill looking down over the demon encampment.

"Give Hermione my thanks, that just made things easier here. What else am I facing and where am I going?" There was a moment's pause as Ellen probably looked over her map and her voice came back a little more unsurely.

"I can't tell you exactly Harry, the magic in the area is too weak for me to get accurate readings, but nothing bigger than Satyrs or void walkers I imagine. To get to the gate easily you will have to head through the main entrance to the encampment, the main 'road' will take you straight to it. I would advise dealing with as many demons as you can before trying the device, the magical output might be too much even for your cloak to shield effectively." Harry chuckled at the worried tone in Ellen's voice, though the girl had overseen the tactical part of many missions like this, she always felt that her intel could be better and that something might go wrong.

"I will see what I can do, where are they currently doing instead of being there by the way?" The they that he referred to were Susan, Daphne, Hermione and Ginny. The five of them shared an... interesting relationship, one that the girls had decided upon and Harry had no choice but to accept, not that he would refuse of course. One of the interesting things about it all was that none of the four girls could bear to be in the Operations room whilst he was on missions, especially after the first couple of fights with the Legion when the casualty rate was in the double digits and Harry was often one of the worst off of the survivors. Ellen snorted at his question then giggled slightly, obviously amused by the question as much as he was.

"What do you think they are doing bro? From what my ninja mice tell me Ginny is currently destroying several targets on the practice range, Daphne is trying to run every part of the Vault at once, Hermione has buried herself in her books and."

"Susan is listening in to every word you say Harry dear, perhaps you and Ellen want to think of some better humour to keep you going on this mission?" Susan's voice was cheerful despite the menacing undertone showing she wasn't too annoyed at either of them, especially when her voice came over the main microphones a moment later.

"This is yours by the way Ellen, feisty little bugger all round." There was a muffled movement and a small squeak that caused Harry to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"Ellen, do you actually have ninja mice? I thought you were just joking with me about them when you mentioned them last year. Why have you never told me properly about this before hand?" Susan chuckled and he could imagine Ellens face turning the same colour as her hair.

"The reason she probably hasn't told you dear is that she doesn't want you to know what she has them spying on..." There was an 'eep' noise from Ellen, but Harry didn't quite get what Susan was implying. Assuming it was a girl thing that he could work out later, Harry turned back to the matter at hand.

"Well, as long as one of you is keeping me updated with the map I don't really care what the mice are up to. I am reaching the main entrance now, I will let you know when I am done." Lowering his hand and retrieving the sword of Gryffindor from its runes, Harry set to work on clearing the encampment quickly and quietly. Then once he was in the clear, the real fun would begin...

Persona change: Nash'ala, Naga exile.

Nash'ala was more terrified right now than she had ever been in her entire life. Her more human upper body was currently blue coloured as opposed to its usual green, and her serpentine tail was wrapped like a spring underneath her to give extra thrust to any dodge she would need to make. Not that there was anywhere she could go Nash'ala thought as her dark yellow eyes looked around the bone and wooden cage for what seemed to be the millionth time in the 6 hours since her capture.

It was bad enough for the young Naga that she had been caught by the Legion patrols whilst trying to escape a group of night elves that had tried to kill her on sight, but two of the night elves were still alive and in the cage with her. Looking at their murderous expressions Nash'ala wasn't sure whether it would be the demons that would kill her or whether her fellow captives would gang up on her first.

Not for the first time Nash'ala cursed herself for her exile that led to this. Having been born only 40 years beforehand, Nash'ala had been but a child when the Naga under Lady Vashj had tried to aid Illidan Stormrage in his quest to destroy both arthas and the Lich King. It was only by the mercy of Tyrande Whisperwind herself, who had led the Night Elf forces through the base that Nash'ala had been staying in during her pursuit of the demonhunter. Tyrande had spared her life when she came across the young Naga's cowering figure in the ruins of the pool Nash'ala had crawled in as night elves stormed the temple of Storms, putting her under guard and escorting her to the ocean where she was freed under a promise she was forced to make at arrow point. 'Never to threaten the night elves again.'

Nash'ala had remembered the incident with poignant clarity as she continued to grow up, slowly growing more and more vocal about her opposition to the Naga clans determination to conquer the surface dwellers. Having seen how much of a disadvantage the Naga were when out of water in comparison to the battle hardened night elf warriors, Nash'ala advocated that instead the naga should join either the Horde or the alliance forces and forge allies to help them triumph.

She knew that her ideas hadn't been popular, but she hadn't expected one day to have a mob of Naga warriors break into her house and beat her into submission, before dragging her through the streets of their settlement. If not for the intervention of Xan'sala, a veteran Naga warrior who had joined the elite ranks of the Myrmidons, the mob may have simply slaughtered her there in an offering to Azshara, their ruler at the time of the Well of eternity's destruction.

Xan'sala had deigned not to kill her, but he had perhaps enacted a much worse punishment upon her. Binding her magic with the use of a bracelet she couldn't remove, Xan'sala decreed that if she liked the surface dwellers so much she should join them and become one of the Naga's enemies to be slaughtered when they rose to take their rightful place.

Nash'ala was drawn from her self piteous musing as a group of Satyrs approached the cage, lead by the Satyr Soulstealer that seemed to be in charge of the little camp that she had blundered across. The Soulstealer was still eating from a hunk of meat with dark purple skin like the night elves in the cage with her, leaving no doubt what had happened to the night elf male who they had dragged off for 'interrogation' an hour beforehand.

Nash'ala backed away from the front of the cage, where she had been staying to keep away from the night elves, hoping that it wouldn't be her that would be picked next. It was stupid, as she knew there was no way out from here regardless of the order in which they were killed, but she supposed it was an instinct most races carried within them.

The satyrs stopped some 10 feet from the cage as they were distracted from their prey by the summoning gate, which was the prominent feature of the camp standing almost 40 feet tall, started throbbing with energy in steadily increasing pulses. Almost a minute later the pulses reached an intensity of energy that Nash'ala had to look away as it pained her magical senses, so it was only the thundering crack that alerted her to the end of the phenomenon.

Looking back Nash'ala saw that the gate had returned to its previous state, but there were several large cracks spanning the supporting pillars and the red demon runes that spanned its length were glowing even more brightly and angrily than normal. The satyrs seemed too shocked to react for several moments, before the soulstealer started chattering authoritatively in its native tongue, sending half the satyrs back to the portal with several bats of the flat side of its longsword.

The other demons that were based around the camp were also moving to investigate the gate, but the soulstealer turned back to the cage, cocky grin back on its face as it finished its approach to the cage and sheathed its sword. Drawing its free hand across the bones and wooden panels that made up the cages structure the soulstealer took another vicious bite out of the flesh, chewing it for a few seconds before spitting it through the cage bars onto the cowering night elves. One of them started crying, whilst the taller of the two simply kept glaring whilst hurriedly wiped the flesh off her face as the satyrs cackled in harsh enjoyment of the terrible spectacle. The soulstealer finished chewing the rest of the meat before swallowing, open-toothed grin showing blood and gristle before speaking once more.

"I hope the three of you are feeling comfortable in there. Your other friend seemed to be rather vocal about our...hospitality." The three remaining satyrs, who had just been calming down, burst into chattering laughter once more, the soulstealer joining them at its own poor joke. Nash'ala's attention was drawn from the satyrs to the camp behind them by a flash of something out of the corner of her eye. Her eyes widened as she saw the corpses of the satyrs that had been sent to watch the gate sank into the ground in time to avoid detection by a felsworn patrol, the rearmost Felsworn falling in twain a moment later from a sword that seemed to ghost into existence from nowhere.

She watched as if mesmerised for several moments as the blade cut down the remaining three felsworn without a sound reaching their position, the bodies sinking like the satyrs before them into the ground. Suddenly she was struck by a curse from the soulstealer, pain filling every nerve in her body as she fell twitching to the floor.

"Foolish fish thing, you are rude enough to ignore me when I am graciously talking to you. Do you wish to be the next for our little chat?" Whilst it was speaking it maintained the curse on her, only stopping when it realised she was in too much pain to even attempt to reply to it. Nash'ala fell to the ground breathing heavily as her muscles spasmed weakly from the ghost pains that the curse left in her body. The soulstealer spoke again as she managed to force herself up on her hands once more.

"I wonder, what does fish thing taste like? I look forwards to finding o..Urgh!" Looking up at the surprised noise from her captor, Nash'ala saw him standing shocked as he looked down to the lightly glowing broadsword that had pierced his chest from behind, clawing weakly at the blade as it was withdrawn, causing him to fall to the ground with a pained gurgle. Behind him was stood a tall human male with shoulder length raven black hair obscuring most of his facial features, broadsword in one hand as he held a wand in the other.

Nash'ala only just contained her moan of despair as she realised that her situation had barely improved. With the humans xenophobia and the scars left by Lady Vashj helping the blood elves rebelling against them, her chances of surviving the day had actually just gotten worse rather than better, especially with the pleased grins that were now present on the night elves faces. It really just wasn't her day...


	3. First Impressions are Everything...

Persona: Harry Potter.

The journey had definitely been one of the most unpleasant that Harry had ever undertaken, buffeted and battered as he flew through the magical storm that seemed to make up the interior of the portals.  Thankfully the device had navigated him through the miasma of magical currents to this exit point without major incident, though that was probably due to the invisibility cloaks protective properties more than anything else.

The device had been calibrated to search for worlds that had been magically similar to Earth, as trying to get a chemical comparison had been impossible to do remotely. That would require the device actually passing into the worlds in question, which would alert the demons on those worlds as to what they were attempting.

Harry and the other survivors had researched and been taught a plethora of spells that would help him survive if the conditions of the world were massively different to Earth’s own and he was glad they had the forethought to prepare as he stepped through the gateway itself, wandlessly putting a bubblehead charm over himself inside of his cloak.

Gravity reasserted itself quickly and harder than he was used to, barely managing two steps before he dropped to 1 knee due to the pressure. Looking around cautiously as he drew his wand, Harry was glad to see that whilst most of the assorted burning legion troops that were based  were looking cautiously in his direction, they were looking past him to the gate itself proving that the cloak was still working perfectly. Also, judging by the lack of a draining presence on his magic there were no felhounds present to sense his magic use.

Weaving his wand in a complicated swish and flick motion, Harry cast the variant of the levitation charm that Hermione had created on himself, which magically lightened the weight of his body until it was the same as what he was used to. How that worked was something he hadn’t even tried to get his head around, something to do with Arithmancy and the ‘will of magic’.

As he cast the spell Harry’s magic connected to the ambient magic of the world he had ended up in and Harry barely resisted the urge to laugh with glee as the magic flowed into him. Whether it was due to getting used to Earth's dying magical field or that this world was more magically active Harry wasn’t sure, but as he extended his magic through the earth he found he didn’t care.

Unfortunately he could not remain unfocused any longer, there was blooding to be done and quickly, if he was right that the people in the cages up the small rise to his left were not being kept there because they liked the decor. Standing firmly once more as he stowed his wand, Harry summoned the sword of Gryffindor to his hand. It was time for these demons to experience the wrath of ‘Earth’s Phantom’...

Time skip: 3 minutes.

Wrenching his sword from the last satyr that he had been able to sense within the camp, Harry wasn’t sure whether it had been a good idea whether to remove the invisibility cloak half way up the hill. He had thought that seeing someone wielding an enchanted sword would be less likely to panic the people imprisoned then their captors just being slaughtered by some unseen force, but judging by the terrified expression on the nearest beings face as she looked at him that might not have been the case.

The terrified being was a female that looked a cross between a lamia and the mermaids he had seen in the Black lake at Hogwarts, a blend that worked surprisingly well judging by the powerfully coiled lower body and the cyan-blue shaded human esque torso. She seemed to be built for speed and dexterity rather than strength, with four long arms, the upper pair humanlike with fully formed fingers whilst the bottom pair ended in a set of vicious claws.

For all her non human features which would have made any death eater scum curse and swear about ‘filthy non humans’ her face would definitely not have been out of place on a Earthen street if the skin was a normal colour instead of a mixture of green and coral. She was definitely pretty, with the added exoticness of her orange snake like eyes and deep red fin plumage instead of hair.

 

Shaking his head to clear his moment of assessing the woman, Harry determined that his pause wasn’t helping the situation. Unsure of what language she or the others would speak, as it was very unlikely that English would be used here, Harry decided to try parseltongue.

Parseltongue was quite literally the tongue of serpents. Those that had been gifted it like he had were not only able to speak to every type of snake and serpent based species he had encountered but he was able to understand any language that was the natural language of the species in question. He had found this when he had found a pair of Lamia being kept as pets by a rather wealthy black market dealer in France. Considering the similarities between the Lamia and this new creature, Harry thought it might work here.

 _“Do not worry, I am here to help you escape this place. Can you understand me?”_   The other two prisoners, female humanoids with purple skin, pointed ears and almost ethereal looks, had initially looked pleased with his appearance. But once he spoke their faces became that of shock, the smaller one looking slightly afraid whilst the other looked suspiciously at him.

The snake woman seemed almost more shocked than they were but she quickly collected herself, uncoiling herself from where she had cowered in the corner of the cell and moving towards him slowly. She stopped in front of the gate and stared at him in a manner that made him think she was impressed by his parseltongue. When she spoke it was almost musical, her voice shifting from word to word in a beautiful medley.

 _“You speak Najza, the language of my people? No surface walker should be able to learn it, let alone find one of the Naga to teach it. Is this magic that you have used, some kind of artefact...”_ She seemed to realise that she was rambling as she came to a stop mid sentence, her cheeks flushing a slightly deeper blue as her head fins flared slightly.

They were interrupted before either could say anything further by the taller of the two humanoids who spoke something a language that he didn’t understand, though the snake woman flinched slightly before looking at him cautiously. Sheathing his sword, Harry drew his wand as he spoke once more.

 _“What did she say? And stand back so I can get this door open.”_  She looked at him like he had grown a second head before she nodded and slithered away, saying something in the unfamiliar language that caused the other two prisoners to gasp and start talking rapidly amongst themselves.

Harry checked the lock on the door, a magical signature lock that would probably be linked to the last satyr he had slain, so it was going to require slightly more than an alohomora to unlock it. Sending a string of different charms at the lock he was interrupted by the snake woman speaking once more.

 _“You do not speak the surface tongue at all? The Night elves say that all humans would know the language better than most races, even we Naga know of it. Who are you strange human? Are you the one that did that to the portal?”_  Harry chuckled, the woman had quite the inquisitive streak to her, but he shook his head before speaking again, time was of the essence before more demons appeared from the gate.

“ _We will discuss this later, first let me get you out of here before more of the demon's return. Then we can talk._ ” The snake woman nodded quickly and spoke with the others who seemed mollified enough to let him work in peace for the moment.

It took him almost a minute before he found the right charm, the lock clicking with a groan before falling from the door. Kicking it away with a grunt, Harry yanked open the door.

 _“I need someone to lead us somewhere safe. Do you know where we can go?”_  The Naga shook her head, but the two night elves stood hurriedly and seemed to have a plan, speaking to the Naga as they stepped past him out into the camp.

 _“They say that they will lead us to a camp if you can protect us from any dangers we meet on the way. I think you should go with them human, I will find my own way from here.”_ Harry sighed, it was obvious from the interactions he had seen as well as where the captives had placed themselves that there was bad blood between the two species.

 _“Tell them that you will come with us and that if they should try anything to harm you I shall do to them what I did to the Legion.”_ He saw her flit quickly between a range of emotions, apprehension and fear were the primary ones, but there was a flicker of gratitude before she started speaking to the night elves once more.

Considering he hadn’t known what to expect when stepping into this world, Harry thought things definitely could have gone a lot worse...

Persona: Susan Bones

The control room was rather crowded, several of the operators for the machinery were running around making adjustments whilst Susan stood with Ellen at the main console.

“His readings are very weak, do you think something bad has happened to him?” Ellen shook her head, typing away rapidly as she replied.

“No, its the signal that's the problem, we are going to need him to set up the device properly and provide quite the bit of power before we can truly discover what he has found. You won’t tell him about... the mouse thing...Right?” Ellen was facing away from her as she stopped talking at at a barely audible murmur but the flush on the back of her neck made it clear how badly she was blushing.

Susan couldn’t help the small giggle that escaped her before she patted Ellen on the head comfortingly.

“Even if I did, you know how romantically inept that boy is Ellen. He wouldn’t work out what it meant unless you take the lead and make it clear to him. Not that you plan on doing that before you talk with me and the others I hope?” The way that the survivors coped was complicated, with the long war against the demons the remaining survivors were mostly the injured, the young and those that had not been on the frontlines when the full might of the Legion had focussed on Britain.

This lead to an almost 3 to 1 ratio of girls to boys in their generation and the generations above them. Susan shook her head slightly, that was the excuse that she and Daphne had eventually used to try and persuade Ginny to share Harry anyways.  Ginny had agreed rather easily all things considered, after almost hexing the pair of them to oblivion anyways. Though Ginny had insisted that if this was going to happen, they needed to ask Hermione first.

The former bookworm and Ginny had become closer than anyone over the course of the war, saying nothing about how inseparable the two remaining thirds of the golden trio had gotten since the events in Rome. So it was hardly a surprise that Ginny wanted to include Hermione before considering anyone else. Hermione had been much more against it than Ginny had been surprisingly, though that might have been more to do with her upbringing than anything else. Ellen speaking drew her from her musing.

“I... I don’t know, why would you even consider it? It must be hard enough to be sharing him without considering even more people. Won’t that reduce the amount of time that you get to spend with him?” Susan conceded that Ellen had a point, but any further conversation was prevented when the signal on the screen suddenly jumped and their subject of discussion became audible for the first time since he had stepped through the portal.

“Ellen, are you there? Do I need to add more power?” Ellen focussed the signal whilst Susan created 6 paper airplanes and sent them flying off, the other women would want to be here as soon as possible, as well as the others that would need to know information for more practical purposes. With that done she activated the microphone by the main table.

“Harry, we can hear you. By Merlin I was starting to worry. You’ve been quiet for almost 3 hours.” There was a pause before Harry replied, sounding a little confused. “But I have been here for an hour at most, it must have been the portal travel? Anyways, Ellen, I have set the device up for you to get visuals from this end, you are going to love it.”  Ellen sighed in an exasperated manner but typed away for a few moments before suddenly a video appeared on the main screen.

“The ‘device’ is a Portal creation and stabilisation unit Harry, I wis... Oh, hello.” Ellen cut off as she looked up to see that Harry had company on his end, in the form of some kind of Lamia/merperson crossbreed.

“Ellen don’t worry, I am not streaming video from you at the moment, don’t want to put excessive strain on the portal unit.” He smirked as Ellen growled slightly before continuing, Susan chuckling.

“This world is really cool though. Oh sorry, this is Nash’ala, or at least that's how she pronounced it in parseltongue, she is of a race known as the Naga. There were some elves of some sort here as well, but they are off ensuring our safe passage, or at least I hope they are. There seems to be some trouble between these guys and Nash’ala and as they don’t speak English I am really stuck on the diplomatic front.” Susan nodded, it made sense that the natives of this new world wouldn’t speak their language, it was just lucky that one of them was able to converse with Harry via Parseltongue.

“Harry, what else can you tell us about this place? Do you think that Nash’ala would be able to give us more information about the people who live there? It will only be a couple of months before the demons realise you’ve gone and then they will be much more invasive with their searches.” Hermione’s voice tacked onto the end of her comment, the young woman stood by the door in her study robes, her hair cut short now which gave her a mature look that made her seem so much older than she actually was.

“Also, I have estimated that it will be 6 months to a year before the Legion drain the last of the planets magic dry. Once that happens, all of our equipment is going to be useless to us, our plants will not grow and people will starve.” That was not heartening news at all, but Hermione had never been one to hide things from people if she could avoid it. Harry sighed but then turned and hissed to Nash’ala, leaving Susan and the others with no idea what was being discussed. Hermione strode into the room and up to the console, so she could have a closer look at the background, which Susan had already been doing.

“The trees look fairly similar to what we used to have here which is good. Seeing as Harry is stood there without a bubblehead charm on we can assume the air is at least breathable. Now if you had let me put some instruments in we could get some readouts which would let us make sure. Now we need to wait on Harry for that information...” Obviously Harry heard her as he paused in his hissing for a moment before Ellen swivelled round to answer her.

“And anything more than the basic sensors would have made it too cumbersome, we’ve covered this Hermione. Harry, I don’t want to kick off your paranoia but the portal creation unit is picking up motion on its sensors about 30 metres away and there’s a few of them. If their hostile you are going to need to power the unit...” There was no time to finish the sentence as an arrow embedded itself into the ground inches from Harry’s feet, causing him to jump slightly and whirl around, Nash’ala shifting behind Harry as he landed.

Judging by the depth that the arrow embedded itself into the ground, Susan did not feel reassured when a voice from out of the view called something which was relayed to Harry by Nash’ala.

“Well it looks like the welcoming committee is here. They want me to deactivate the ‘magic totem’ which I think is you guys. So I will have an update for you when I sort this all out. “ And with that there was another call and Harry shook his head.

“Alright alright, Love you all.” With that he snapped his fingers and the signal cut off, leaving the three girls looking at each other in the control room as Ginny jogged into the room. She took a look at their faces before sighing in frustration.

“I am not going to like what you guys are going to tell me am I? What has the Idiot-Who-Was-Lucky done this time?” Susan winced at the title she gave Harry, if she was coming up with them again she really was angry. Susan decided to invite someone else into the firing line, turning and looking at Ellen with a smile.

“Ellen, how about you explain everything to Ginny and then I will give my tentative agreement to the other matter from earlier.” Ellen looked at her with a smile before she worked out what she had been volunteered from, morphing into a betrayed expression as Ginny's gaze fixed on her, not offering anyway of escape...

Persona: Nash’ala

Nash’ala hoped that the human knew what he was doing, the two of them now being escorted by a dozen heavily armed night elves towards what she assumed was a night elf settlement. Nash’ala had to admit the man had surprised her every moment since they had fled the war camp. He had even stopped the night elves from shackling her with a burst of magical power, it hadn’t done anything physical but it made the night elves nervous enough not to try it again.

One of the night elves, a tall male with deep green hair and dressed in heavy leathers of a druid seemed very interested in the human, though it was only half way through the journey that he moved close enough to speak to him in common.

“How is it that the nature is so connected to you human, I have never met one of your kind that can claim anywhere near as great a connection to Azeroth.”  Harry looked at her in askance and she decided to risk the wrath of the surrounding night elves by speaking up.

“Master Druid.” She paused as one of the warriors raised a spear butt in anger at her voice, but before he could do anything with it he found himself tangled in place with vines, but that wasn’t what was the interesting part. An earthen spike had shot from the ground, stopping just short of the night elves neck, its tip glittering with a crystalline edge.

The source was obvious, magic rolling off of the human in a way she had not seen since Tyrande had spared her all those years before. The druid spoke up in warning fashion.

“We were told the human was powerful, that to attack the Naga would only risk pointless deaths. If I had not restrained you the human would have slaughtered our entire group with those spikes. Now the girl was trying to speak, but if she could assure the human that we do not mean either of them any harm that would be most useful.” Nodding in thanks for the druids actions Nash’ala looked at the human and gestured with her hands in what she had seen a few surface dwellers do in a calm down motion.

 _“Human, please calm yourself, they won’t hurt me.”_ The human seemed unsure about that, looking round for a moment before pointing at the druid, 2 of the hunters and the other warrior.

“ _Those ones, I trust. The others I can feel their hate towards you, they would cut you down without a second thought.”_  The human could sense peoples emotions?

That was a powerful ability to have. She did not expand on his pointing as the earthen spike moved back into the ground, merely nodding to the druid once more.

“Master druid as I was going to inform you before you waste any of your time, the human is not able to understand Common. I do not know why this is so, he is fluent in the language of the Naga and some other language that I do not understand but that is all I can tell you.” This seemed to cause some interest in the group as a whole, the druid thinking on it for a moment before indicating to one of the hunters who the human hadn’t pointed at.

“You, ride ahead to Auberdine and from there get to Darnassus as fast as you can. This may require the attention of more senior people than ourselves. Naga, as you are currently the only one that the human seems capable of communicating with I ask both for your name and his own, as I get the feeling that the Elders will wish to see this for themselves.”

His comment made Nash’ala feel a little embarrassed, she had given him her name on the way over, but she hadn’t heard him mention his name at any point and she hadn’t found the right way to ask. There was no choice but to do so now though and she spoke to Harry once more as they resumed walking in the same direction, the specified hunter running off at speed to get to their end location ahead of them.

 _“The night elf wishes to know your name and it is not something that we discussed after you rescued me. Also, they will want to know where you are from in the near future. I imagine you do not want me to inform them about you entering this world through the demon portal? I don’t think the elves will assume that, the other two will be focussed on you rescuing us I imagine.”_ She tried to come off as nonchalant as opposed to embarrassed about the fact she had not at any point tried to learn the identity of her saviour, but she knew that it hadn’t quite worked when the human chuckled, running a hand through his hair before replying.

 _“That would probably be for the best, though it will come out soon enough. Are these Night Elves the dominant force on this world then? I need to talk to some people in charge as soon as possible about the Burning Legion. Oh, yes i forgot to mention, my name is Harry Potter, Phantom of Earth...”_   It was as she suspected then, the name and the fact that he didn’t know about the other races that lived on Azeroth proved that this Harry was definitely not from this world.

This was going to be a long conversation before they got to Auberdine she thought to herself  in slight despairing before she called out to the druid.

“His name is Harry Potter and he says his title is ‘Phantom of the Earth’. I am Nash’ala, exile of the Vashj sect. I am not an enemy to the surface dwellers like the rest of my people, I owe my life to a night elf after all.” That seemed to mollify a couple of them, though the others still looked suspicious. That didn’t matter too much though Nash’ala thought, the fact that she was the only interpreter for Harry would ensure her safety for quite some time...

Timeskip: 2 days.

Persona: Tyrande Whisperwind, High Priestess of Elune.

Placing another reply to her outposts in Ashenvale requests for more equipment, troops and supplies to combat the legion forces present there on her desk, Tyrande sighed before shaking her hand in an attempt to get rid of the pain in her wrist. She had been writing for almost three hours now and had made good headway into the paperwork she needed to do for the day, in between meetings with various Night elf and alliance representatives of course.

She was about to continue when one of her sentinel bodyguards spoke from the shadows of her audience chamber.

“Priestess, Champion Evensong is requesting an audience with you, she brings news from Darkshore that she thinks will be of interest to you.” Tyrande frowned slightly but nodded her head, Champion Jaelyne Evensong was head of the Sentinel forces in Darnassus and Darkshore, also she probably the most dangerous archer in the Night elf forces other than Tyrande herself.

Jaelyne was usually very good at not bringing things to Tyrande, being a very competent organiser and therefore sorted the defence of Darnassus without a hitch. For her to need to discuss something with her imparted more about the importance of the meeting than when the large oaken doors were pushed open by the woman in question. Her face was mostly covered by a jade coloured helm which matched her armour, but what little of it Tyrande could see was impossible to read the tone of the meeting from. Jaelyne bowed, her long elfen ears twitching slightly as she resumed her standing position.

“High Priestess, thank you for allowing me this audience. Something strange occurred in Darkshore the day before yesterday and I would ask for your advice before I bring it to the attention of the council of elders tomorrow.” The council of elders? This truly was an important event if Jaelyne was going to break her decade long absence from what she had claimed to be ‘a group of self gratifying idiots who have no interest in the common good of the night elves.’

That comment had definitely caused quite the ruckus amongst the members of said council, something that could still bring a smile to Tyrandes face even now. Shaking of the nostalgia, Tyrande quirked an eyebrow before she asked her most pertinent questions.

“What is this event if it so important that you wish to involve the elders? If it were groundbreaking enough for you to consider involving yourself with them why has there been no gossip from Darkshore about something out of the ordinary?” Jaelyne looked a bit hesitant at this before seeming to steel herself.

“Two days ago one of our patrols encountered a Naga and pursued it as it fled, only to encounter a previously hidden Legion base, the denizens of which quickly killed most of the party and captured the remaining few along with the Naga they had been chasing. They tortured and killed two of the captives and it was almost certain the others were doomed to the same fate, when they were rescued by what they thought was a human of all things.” The use of the phrase ‘what they thought’ truly caught Tyrande’s attention, though she also had another question.

“How did this human rescue them? If there were enough demons to take out a patrol...” She let the obvious remain unstated.

Whilst she had respect for the humans serving under Jaina Proudmoore due to their actions leading to Archimonde’s defeat at Mount Hyjal, most humans,  or any of the other races now she thought about it, were not strong enough to even consider taking on a demon camp, let alone actually succeeding at rescuing some captives from it. This obviously seemed to be a question judging by Jaelyne’s uncertain shrug.

“The captive elves did not notice him until he killed the final few of their captors, but I lead a force to purge the camp from existence and it was the strangest battlefield I have encountered. The gate had been badly damaged before our arrival, it occurred just before the human saved the captives so we can assume he had something to do with it. We also found no bodies other than half a dozen satyr corpses by the cages, which does not fit with the 4 or 5 dozen demons and their followers that the captives said had populated the camp. But that is not why I needed to speak to you, not directly at least.” That was good to hear, otherwise Tyrande would have been annoyed about being drawn from her work for such a small engagement.

“I assume this has to do with the human then? I assume he is a guest of ours in Darnassus for saving our people?” Jaelyne’s normally lilac covered skin took on a slightly darker hue which equated to her blushing from embarrassment.

“Not quite High Priestess, initially they were kept in the cells in Auberdine until the report reached me and I visited them to investigate. After what happened there, there are concerns... Concerns that he is either a dragon of the black flight or even worse, a primordial in human form.” That caused Tyrande to sit up in her seat sharply.

Many millenia ago, even before her time Azeroth was ruled by incalculably powerful beings known as the Old ones. It was only when the Titans defeated the dark ones with the aid of the dragonflights did the races that called Azeroth their home today begin to flourish. Amongst the old ones many forces, the primordial elementals were some of their most powerful and dangerous, with the old ones lieutenants being elemental lords of incredible power. The idea that one of the elementals, even one of lesser power,  would be bound to a human body...

“What? Such an accusation is almost impossible to conceive, an elemental's power would not be contained in a human shell for more than a few hours. What reasons do our people have for gossiping like younglings about such a thing.” Jaelyne smirked, obviously pleased to have gotten such a reaction from her.

“I had a similar reaction when I first heard the news, but whilst I do not believe the human is a primordial, there are a couple of facts that i think you must know about before making any judgement on the matter. First is his affinity to the earth, not earth based magic or anything like the shamans of other races can achieve with their spirits and totems, this human controls it almost instinctively and without word or magical gesture. I got a demonstration when I went to investigate him personally, so this is no mere hearsay. This is related to the second point, which is that he speaks the language of the Naga and is protecting the Naga captive whom he freed with the others almost possessively.”

Just when Tyrande thought she couldn’t get anymore surprised, the language of the Naga was something they had thought was impossible to replicate without gills, so for the human to know the language and speak it was incredible. Jaelyne wasn’t quite finished with her impressive news and finished speaking as Tyrande composed her thoughts.

“He also does not seem to speak or understand common or any other known language, so the limited conversations I have had with him were with the Naga acting as a translator.” Curiosity now fully tweaked, Tyrande nodded her head.

“I can see why you brought this to my attention Commander, this is definitely something that we need to settle before the rumours can spread too far. Fetch the human and the Naga here now, I will gather a small council so that we can question him about his powers without needing to involve the Archdruid.” The title for the de facto leader to one of the largest sections of night elf society gave her a dirty feeling in her mouth.

This would probably surprising to those that knew her past, her having been bonded to the previous Archdruid for almost 10,000 years since the Legion had first invaded Azeroth. However, her love Malfurion stormrage had entered the Emerald dream shortly after the events involving his brother Illyadin’s plot to destroy Northrend without naming a successor, leaving the title unfilled.

The emerald dream was an alternate Azeroth, covered in the massive primordial trees that had been present at the time of the old ones. It was as if the various races of Azeroth had never happened there. Druids such as Malfurion often went there in times of emotional distress, seeking guidance from the ancient natural spirits that resided there.

However, Malfurion had not returned from his sleep and his body was not in his druidic cairn which he used for his journeys to the emerald dream when druids had gone to check upon him. Tyrande had lead the search for him for months but there was nothing to find and eventually she was forced to return to Darnassus empty-handed. The loss of Malfurion's body and seemingly unlikely return had lead to a power struggle inside the druid order for the first time in her living memory. The victor and new archdruid was Fandral Stormrage, unsurprising considering his age, past accomplishments and involvement in the creation of Teldrassil.

He quickly made himself unpopular however, with Tyrande's supporters with his attempts to intimidate and in some case bully his points across with his great stature. In addition, he had a isolationist and superior attitude towards the non-night elf members of the alliance, something that had caused more than one meeting with diplomats to end in a shouting match.

Needless to say the two did not get along but they tried to keep it hidden from the general public to avoid polarising the population more than they already had. Jaelyne knew about the animosity though and did not bat an eyelid before nodding her head.

“Of course High Priestess, I will do my best to keep their transfer here secret, but you know that Archdruid Staghelm has his eyes and ears even amongst the sentinels, so I can promise nothing.” Jaelyne saluted and then strode out of the room, leaving Tyrande alone once more with her thoughts. Well, as alone as she ever could be at any rate as one of her sentinel guards stepped from the shadows on her non verbal signal.

“Request the presence of the other high level Priestesses, as well as those amongst the sentinels and wardens that aren’t thought to support Fandral.” The meeting with this human would definitely be interesting, even more so if he turned out to be an elemental as the rumours hinted at...

Persona: Harry Potter

Looking up at the majestic heights of the new world tree, which stretched up into the Harry couldn’t help but be impressed with the magical feats that could be accomplished in this world, even if he was a lot less impressed with some of the denizens that resided upon what Nash’ala had told him was called Azeroth. Whilst some of the night elves had been accommodating, it had been clear that the people in charge of the little town they had been taken to did not trust him and had an even lower opinion of Nash’ala.

The night elves had taken the two of them to a nice set of rooms on the top floor of the largest of the buildings in the town. But the reinforced doors, small windows and constant guards dispelled any illusion they were there as anything but prisoners until someone in a position of power decided what to do with them.

The fact that they had the room on the top floor, as far from the earth as possible was equally as subtle. Then out of nowhere, just before sunrise after a night in their ‘rooms’, they received a visitor. The first meeting had been interesting and had gone a way to giving Harry hope for cooperation with the night elf leadership yet, despite the minor issue that had occurred at the start of it...

*Flashback*

Harry was awake early, it hadn’t been like there had been much for him to do the night before anyways, Nash’ala had obviously been exhausted by her captivity and the pursuit that had pre-empted it. The Naga had almost immediately curled up on one of the provided beds, a barely comprehensible good night being all Harry had gotten before she was sound asleep. She snored rather loudly, but he was used to that in Hogwarts from Ron and Seamus so he didn’t mind, it was almost soothing in fact as he practiced several magical exercises he had developed to enhance his control over his magic.

He sensed the approach of a powerful individual even before the guards at the door reacted to some call from below. Whoever this person was, they had a sizable magical core, almost 4 times that of any of the other night elves Harry had encountered thus far and far greater than Nash’ala’s. He knew he would need to bring that up at some point, when he had first rescued her he had assumed that the magic level she maintained was normal, only slightly larger than a full grown squib on earth. But now he had seen that the night elves all had fully formed and sizable magical cores, even those that seemed to follow paths that did not utilize magic, Harry couldn’t help but wonder if there was something more sinister at work here.

As the powerful magical signature got closer, Harry reached out with his magic to get a read on the approaching person. Harry had discovered shortly after the end of the war with Voldemort that the reason that he had always had difficulty with occlumency was because he was actually what would be considered an emotive mage or sorcerer, something that had mostly been suppressed by the Voldemort fragment stuck in his head and leaching off his soul.

Unlike wizards, who were all about concentration and willpower to achieve their spells, Sorcerers on Earth had utilised the power of their emotions as well as the ambient magic of Earth to empower their spells, which explained why Harry had been able to master the patronus charm in his 3rd year. It was not to say that Sorcery and Wizardry were two immiscible forms of magic, Dumbledore had dabbled in Sorcery in his younger years amongst other powerful wizards, they were just different methods of using magic.

One of the members of his original strike team had been a German sorcerer who had taught Harry a lot about using his magic both to harness his emotions as well as a more primitive form of Legilimency, which is what he was using now. Whilst he was not able to sense more than the most dominant of emotions, he could use it on an area without needing to make eye-contact or even see his targets for his magic to detect their emotions.

Seeing the figure in his mind’s eye continue up past the 3rd floor of the building with curiosity and wariness being the primary emotions that he could sense from her, Harry concluded that it was almost certain that the figure was here to see them rather than conducting other business. With this in mind he called out to Nash’ala’s curled up form, he would need her functioning if they were going to be expected to talk to people.

 _"Nash'ala, wake up! Someone is coming to see us!"_ There was no reply for several moments and Harry was about to call again when there was a muffled

 _"What?!"_ From Nash'ala and a slow shifting of coils. The reaction reminded Harry of Ron before everything went to hell in their 6th year, getting that boy up for classes had been nearly impossible.

One method that had always worked was a stream of cold water, but he was keeping his wand powers a secret for the moment until he could get a better read on the Night Elves as a race. Trump cards were always useful, even when amongst people he still hoped he could negotiate with. A serpentine yellow eye appeared between coils and glared sleepily in his direction.

 _"Where is this person then? You better have not ruined one of the best sleeps I have had in years for nothing."_ Any thought Harry had of replying was annihilated by the opening of their door and the appearance of the owner of the powerful magic he had sensed initially. The woman was definitely one of the most beautiful women Harry had ever seen and he had visited veela colonies on Earth with his task force to help them evacuate before the arrival of legion forces.

She was taller than him by at least four inches, something that all night elves managed without exception from what he had seen thus far, all of them being between 7-7 and a half feet tall. She had an athletic build that combined the ethereal and wild beauty of the night elves with the warrior women attributes such as toned muscles and unspoken confidence that Harry found so alluring about his other halves, especially Ginny when she got truly worked up. He was just starting to admire her armour, that whilst form fitting was more practical than anything else, when a cough from the woman in question grabbed his attention.

Knowing from the smirk on the woman's face that he had been caught looking longer than he should, Harry looked away with a blush that caused the woman to chuckle and speak in the language that Nash'ala had helped him identify as what was referred to on Azeroth as common. Whatever she said was obviously funny as Nash'ala giggled for a few moments, the sound causing both Harry and the night elf to turn and look her. It took a few moments for Harry's pointed look to catch her attention, Nash'ala hastening to compose herself before relating what had been said.

 _"The woman said 'only a human would stare so blatantly and then get so embarrassed about being caught.' I thought it was hilarious, sorry Harry."_  Even as Harry's blush deepened the night elf unleashed what he assumed was a plethora of questions in Nash'ala’s direction, obviously not meant for him as Nash'ala answered each question without even looking in his direction. Harry sat back down on his bed, prepared to wait until Nash'ala needed him for the conversation...

What was that? Harry's attention had been drawn by a whisper of fearful emotions from by the door. They were gone as fast as he detected them, but they were sufficiently different to what he had sensed from the night elves thus far that he was on edge.

Reaching out with his magic Harry drew up earth from the ground and up the walls of the building, the night elf woman pausing and looking in his direction, obviously sensing his use of magic. The earth slowly moved up through the floorboards of the room, coating the floor with the thinnest layer of earth, which was all Harry needed. His magic connected to each earthen grain and he was assaulted by a mass of information, he could feel the heartbeats of the night elf guards, Nash'ala and the night elf woman, but that wasn't what interested him.

It was the fifth heartbeat from near the door that had his attention and he peered in that direction, trying to discern what magic was being used to cloak the presence of someone he knew was there even if he could not see them. What he did not expect was the sudden appearance of the person in question, crouched behind a barrel that had been used as a table of sorts, but what was more worrying to him was the dagger that was already flying in his direction even as the night elf woman reacted to the sudden appearance.

Luckily the dagger had been thrown hastily so was aimed to the left side of his chest rather than the centre, making it easier for Harry to drag himself out of the path of the daggers flight, the heavy thunk behind him reminding him that getting hit by sharp pointy things is definitely a bad idea. The earth he had pulled up to check the room rushed to his left arm as he shifted across the room, forming an earthen bracer which he used to block the knife strike of the tall blonde haired woman who had attempted to strike the night elf in the chest whilst she was still reacting to the surprising presence.

Summoning more earth to him from the ground 3 floors down, Harry prepared to fight whoever this person was, only for the night elf woman to engage her using the longbow that she had previously had on her back like a staff or club. The two women danced back and forth, and it was obvious that though the night elf was stronger and more experienced,  the blonde haired woman had speed and a natural aptitude for knife fighting that kept the night elf on the back foot.

Harry wanted to intervene to help the night elf, but he knew his limitations. After the legion invasion of earth he had gotten more than enough experience with his sword to be considered a decent level close combatant. But these two were on an entirely different level to him, similar to the vampires amongst the survivors that had been around since swords had been the primary method of combat.

The dance was entrancing but Harry knew that it needed to be finished before any more sharp things were thrown at him and Nash'ala. though that didn't mean he had to play their game when he had his own tricks of course.

The earth he had been drawing up to beneath the floor was now ready and his chance appeared when the blonde woman jumped back to avoid an overhead strike from the night elf. With a surge of power the floorboards beneath the blondes feet burst upwards and the earth shot up to ensnare her legs, or that was the plan at least.

The blonde had ridiculous reflexes, using the momentum of the moving floorboards to somersault backwards out of his trap. Not that Harry was stopping with that, Earthen spikes erupting from the floor around the room forcing the blonde to concentrate on dodging and blocking the attacks. He had just finished cornering her with a flurry of earthen tendrils when an arrow shot over his shoulder.

Harry barely had time to intercept the projectile before the arrow buried itself in the blondes chest, the sheer power of the shot slamming through the tendril he had used almost to the hilt, the arrowhead coming to a stop less than a centimetre from the suddenly frozen blondes chest. Harry wasn't entirely sure why he had saved the blondes life after she had just moments before tried to end his twice, probably his stupid saving people thing kicking in again.

The night elf stepped up next to him with another arrow cocked, her eyes fixed on the blonde as she said something in common. Now he had a moment, Harry noticed how similar but different the blonde was from the night elves he had interacted with thus far.

She was slightly shorter than the night elves, almost his height in fact, with the same long ears and ethereal beauty. But that was where the similarities ended, the blonde almost golden in complexion, her features more regal and hard than the night elves feral and natural faces. She was dressed in dull red leather armour as well as a burgundy cloak, though it was her eyes that drew Harry in the most.

It was a common phrase on earth to say 'the eyes are the doorway to the soul' and for Harry that was definitely true. The blonde looked at him through the earth tendrils for a moment and that was long enough for him to get a basic reading of her emotions. There was no hate or desire to kill him as he had half expected, mainly distaste and anger, though there was a strange hunger feeling underlying it all that seemed magnified when she looked at his display of magic.

Assuming that the night elf was telling the blonde to surrender, Harry flexed the tendrils slightly closer to her. It had the desired effect as the blonde nodded before replying in common and dropping her daggers to the floor. Whilst the night elf relaxed at this and lowered her weapon, Harry was still slightly suspicious, there was something off about the situation. He was proved right a moment later when the blonde threw something on the floor in front of her, a blinding flash filling the room.

Drawing the earth nearest to him, Harry formed a very basic set of armour just in time to absorb a punch to the chest, the force of the blow still sending him to the floor. Rolling with the blow as the light began to clear from his eyes, Harry prepared to get serious with the fight, fuck trying to keep the blonde alive.

He paused however when he saw the blonde perched on the ledge of the window in their room rather than killing them all as he had suspected. She cast him a quick look before jumping from the window as another arrow whipped through the air by her head.

Looking around Harry saw that thankfully no one was seriously hurt, Nash'ala quickly slithering from where she had been perched in the corner of the room to envelop him in a relieved hug.

 _"Harry, that was really incredible, what you did with the earth and blocking that dagger... Oh I am so sorry."_ It seemed that Nash'ala had just realised what she was doing, disengaging from the hug hurriedly and casting her eyes downwards.

The night elf was yelling orders at the Night Elf guards that had arrived on the scene, so they could talk in peace for a few moments at least. Reaching out Harry put a reassuring hand on Nash'ala’s shoulder which caused her to jump slightly before looking up apprehensively.

_"Do not apologise for anything like that Nash'ala, I don't mind in the slightest. However, I have some questions for you to answer before the Night Elves finishing shouting at each other..."_

Flashback end

And that was how Harry learnt about the Blood Elves, which were a species of Elf similar to the Night Elves. They had lived on the other major continent that made up Azeroth’s populated landmass, drawing on a magical energy source known as the sunwell to maintain their immortality. Then came the invasion of the Burning legion, their minions on this world using an undead horde known as The Scourge to destroy any organised resistance to their arrival. The Blood Elves had been one of the first major casualties of this onslaught, their population decimated as the leader of the Scourge forces, a former human prince by the name of Arthas, rampaged through their lands to the Sunwell itself. He then proceeded to corrupt the Sunwell in order to resurrect a powerful necromancer, leaving the remaining Blood Elves without a home or a source of magic to sustain themselves with.

If Arthas’ actions weren’t enough, having heard about their more recent history Harry could understand a lot more about why the Blood Elf had attacked him. The humans on this world had definitely earned the blood elves disgust and hate with their actions both before and after the Burning Legion invasion. The stories about the actions of Grand Marshal Garithos and his blatant racism towards the Blood Elves nearly got Harry's blood boiling. He hoped the other humans on this world were not like him or Harry would struggle not to deal with them in a manner that most would deem distasteful.

Nash’ala’s explanation about the blood elves was probably what had kept him from telling the night elf woman, who he learnt was called Jaelyne Evensong, that he knew exactly where the Blood Elf was hiding. Harry knew this as he had some of his magically empowered earth attached to her cloak. She had retreated to the edge of the town and was obviously hiding out until the search for her was over.

Jaelyne had announced after a short search that it was no longer safe for the two of them to remain in Auberdine, obviously assuming that the attack had been a planned assassination attempt as opposed to a reaction to him spotting the blood elf. He suspected there was more to it that they were not being told, the night elves looking at him with even more suspicion than before.

They were then taken by boat across an ocean channel to an island which jaelyne had informed him via Nash’ala was called Darnassus, the new capital of the night elf race. This is where they were now, moving through the streets of the city to what he had been told was a meeting with some of the night elves leaders. Something told Harry that this wasn't going to simply to discuss pleasantries or the attack the day before...

Persona: Coria Lightblade, Blood elf rogue.

Watching from her hiding place as another pair of night elves searched the area around the edge of Auberdine, Coria cursed her bad luck. She had been in the town trying to find out whether the night elves had anything to do with the disappearance of a small force of blood elves from their small camp in Ashenvale. Considering how much the night elves looked down upon her kind for their arcane dependence, it would hardly have been surprising if they had been involved in some manner.

On the third day of her sneaking around though there was another development, the arrival of a human, in the company of a Naga of all things. At first Coria had thought the Naga had been captured by the human and had been brought back to Auberdine for interrogation, something she would not allow for one of the few allies that the blood elves had gained since the third great war be left in enemy hands. However, as Coria scoped out the large building that the Naga was being held captive, she quickly realised that the night elves weren’t just guarding the Naga, but the human as well.

She was intrigued why a human and a Naga would be together, enough so that she snuck into their room for the evening rather than continuing to investigate the town as had been her original intention. To her continued surprise the two spent the evening talking in the language of the Naga as opposed to common as she expected.

Coria had been a part of Prince Kael’thas’ original force in Lordaeron and therefore had met with the Naga when they had aided them with various offences against the Scourge forces in the region. But even she had never begun to understand the Naga language, whereas this human seemed to be as fluent with it as the Naga was.

That was before it had all gone to hell with Garithos, his distrust and intolerance for elves had culminated in the Grand marshals arrest of all members of the Blood elf force due to ‘treachery and working with the inhuman Naga against the greater good of the Alliance.’ Coria had been part of the five man detachment that Prince Kael’thas had ordered to return to the Blood elf forces in the remnants of Quel’thalas to inform them of the Grand Marshal’s actions.

The regent who had been put in charge of the Blood elf survivors by Prince Kael’thas, Regent Lor’themar Theron, had been suitably outraged at the news and had done his utmost to get the sentences lifted. But by the time Lor’themar had contacted Garithos, Prince Kael’thas had managed to break free with his forces and escape through a portal, with the help of the Naga once more.

The naga had earned themselves an ally in the remaining Blood elves that day, even if this had truly severed the military agreements between the Alliance and the remaining blood elves. That was why Coria had resolved to return the next morning to free the Naga, even if it meant saving the damn human as well. The initial plan of sneaking in the next morning, knocking out some of the guards and then breaking them out, had been going well enough. She had slipped some sleeping poison into the guards wine and made her way to the room.  The rest of the mission, hadn’t gone quite so well...

*Flashback*

Slipping inside the room once more Coria was surprised to find the human awake and cognizant, doing a set of magical exercises she had never seen before. By his body language she would never have thought him a mage, but the visible magic wisping off his arms was undeniable. Without realising what she was doing she activated her mage sight, something that every blood elf was capable of. Even if the majority of the populous couldn’t consciously manipulate their magic as mages could, the fact that they needed magical essence to survive meant that the skill was very useful to have. The human’s magic was one of the most entrancing she had ever seen and Coria had seen Prince Kael’thas himself at work.

The intricate patterns that the magic made as he shifted his magic around his body and then into the world around him awoke something inside her that she had managed to suppress since she had entered Auberdine. As his magic stretched further from his body, over and around her like a blanket, Coria rather foolishly reached out and grabbed a small tendril of it, bringing it to her mouth to consume it to feed the rapidly growing need she had inside. Luckily he didn’t notice her actions as she finished gorging on the magic, her hunger not only satisfied but entirely sated for the first time since the Sunwell had fallen.

Then his eyes shot open as his magic froze and Coria felt a sliver of panic that he had noticed the missing magic, but his eyes focussed on something on one of the floors below them, letting Coria relax once more. The question of what he had focussed on was answered a minute later, after a conversation between the two occupants of the room that Coria didn’t understand, but the urgency in the humans whispering made it clear that it was something serious.

Coria had been about to reveal herself and get the two of them out of there when the door opened, revealing a tall night elf woman who strode into the room with a confidence that belied her experience and strength. She was oddly familiar and Coria tried to recall where she had seen her face before, whilst squashing the feeling of distaste she felt he human looked the night elf up and down in unabashed awe. The night elf coughed lightly, causing the human to blush and look away, before speaking in common with an amused tinge to her voice.

“Only a human would stare so blatantly and then get so embarrassed about being caught.” The Naga giggled at the putdown, continuing for several seconds before the human hissed something at her causing her to stop awkwardly and hiss something back which caused the humans blush to deepen once more. The night elf seemed most interested in the exchange and turned to the Naga, her face thoughtful.

“So it is true then, the human can speak your language but not his own races. Naga, as it seems I will need to converse with you for a period before I decide what will happen with the two of you, I wish to call you by something other than your race. What is your name?” The Naga inclined her head respectfully, in a manner that Coria thought she would never have thought a Naga would act to a Night elf of all people.

“He cannot, but the story as to why he cannot speak common is still unknown to me at this point. I am Nash’ala, exile of the Vashj clan and the human goes by the name Harry Potter. May I inquire your name and how I should address you? I have little knowledge of Night Elf customs due to our races... differences but I do not wish to cause offence with my ignorance.” Especially since the slightest mishap would probably get her killed, something that Nash’ala hadn’t said but Coria was sure that she wasn’t the only one to catch the hidden meaning.

The night elf nodded her head in understanding and inclined her head slightly.

“I understand your concerns, but we are not Trolls or the Horde, you are safe as long as you don’t do anything stupid. I am Jaylene Evensong, Warden of Darnassus and commander of the Night elf forces in Duskwood. You may refer to me as Commander or Evensong, I do not mind which.” Coria couldn’t help the surging of panic in her chest at the realisation of quite how dangerous the situation had gotten, with one of the oldest and most experienced night elf warriors on Azeroth stood in front of her.

It took barely a second to calm down, her training kicking in as she squashed the feelings down and started to plan contingencies to get out of there, freeing the Naga could be a concern after she ensured her own safety. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the human suddenly straighten up and look in her direction, narrowing his eyes a moment later.

It took a moment for Coria to notice what was happening. His magic reached out and down into the Earth below them, drawing it up rapidly but unobtrusively whilst still looking in her direction. Coria realised with a sinking feeling that somehow he had sensed her presence and considering how much magic he was slowly exerting, this wasn’t going to be something she could just hope to talk her way out of...

*Flashback End*

After the human had noticed her presence, everything had gone rapidly downhill. Coria had engaged Jaelyne after her initial attack had thrown off the humans concentration and therefore any spells he had been preparing. But the human had recovered faster than she would have thought possible, blocking her strike with some kind of magical bracer.  The night elf champion was well known for her heroic acts during the Great War against the burning legion, her experience and skill enough to keep up with Coria's barrage of attacks in an attempt to incapacitate the night elf, despite only having her bow to defend herself with.

 

The two had danced back and forth for a few moments,  Coria slowly gaining the upper hand but not enough to risk trying a finishing move. It had been as she leapt back from another rapid exchange that her magic senses warned her of an attack from below. Even as she forced herself into a hurried somersault, the floor beneath her feet had ruptured with earthen hands attempting to grab her legs.Landing in a half crouch, there had been no respite for her, the human Mage manipulating the earth in a way she would not have imagined possible to encircle and trap her in one corner of the room.

 

Coria was only glad that the human hadn't wanted her dead for whatever reason, she had no doubt in her mind that if he were to get serious she wouldn't have stood a chance. If that hadn't been enough, the man had proceeded to save her life by blocking the first arrow Jaelyne had fired at her. The razor sharp tip resting just short of her chest had been more than enough encouragement for her to freeze as the Champion of Darnassus had told her firmly to drop her weapons.

 

Even though she had escaped the room thanks to a flash bomb she had hidden up her sleeve that she set off the moment Jaylene had started to relax , Coria knew that the human could have stopped her if he chose to. He was certainly very different to any Mage or any human she had ever encountered, the first that she could say she wanted... No needed to see again.

  
Whilst Coria could try and claim that she wanted to see him again due to the life debt she owed him, she knew that deep down there was another simpler reason for her desire. Magic to sustain themselves was the thing blood elves desired above anything, and this human Harry Potter had magic that restrained her hunger like nothing she had never encountered before....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Haha, that was so much fun to write! I am trying for something a bit different from the norm, with Harry unable to speak Common and not having a handy universal translation spell to solve that problem for him. 
> 
> Also I am thinking a different tack to how Harry will approach the whole Alliance-Horde dynamic, with his own people to look after, Harry will be very put off by certain individuals on both sides of the conflict. Expect Minor races and shifts away from the traditional storyline as this story progresses. 
> 
> Also, background info question. I am not sure how in depth readers are with the Warcraft mythos, I am trying to provide some information on what is what, but I am trying to avoid boring/annoying more experienced readers with my descriptions which might not be 100% accurate as I am not a WoW player in the slightest. 
> 
> Let me know what you think guys, please review with Idea’s, Critiques or compliments, they will enthuse me to work on this project more frequently!!


	4. Alliances and a Plan

_Previously on Harry Potter and a Whole New World: Rising From the Ashes:_

_After the human had noticed her presence, everything had gone rapidly downhill. Coria had engaged Jaelyne after her initial attack had thrown off the human's concentration and therefore any spells he had been preparing. But the human had recovered fa_ _ster than she would have thought possible, blocking her strike with some kind of magical bracer._ _The night elf champion was well known for her heroic acts during the Great War against the burning legion, her experience and skill enough to keep up with Coria's barrage of attacks in an attempt to incapacitate the night elf, despite only having her bow to defend herself with._

_The two had danced back and forth for a few moments, Coria slowly gaining the upper hand but not enough to ri_ _sk trying a finishing move_ _. It had been as she leapt back from another rapid exchange that her magic senses warned her of an attack from below. Even as she forced herself into a hurried somersault, the floor beneath her feet had ruptured with earthen hands attempting to grab her legs. Landing in a half crouch, there had been no respite for her, the human Mage manipulating the earth in a way she would not have imagined possible to encircle and trap her in one corner of the room._

_Coria was only glad that the human hadn't wanted her dead for whatever reason, she had no doubt in her mind that if he were to get serious she wouldn't have stood a chance. If that hadn't been enough, the man had proceeded to save her life by blocking the first arrow Jaelyne had fired at her. The razor sharp tip resting just short of her chest had been more than enough encouragement for her to freeze as the Champion of Darnassus had told her firmly to drop her weapons._

_Even though she had escaped the room thanks to a flash bomb she had hidden up her sleeve that she set off the moment Jaylene had started to relax, Coria knew that the human could have stopped her if he chose to. He was certainly very different to any Mage or any human she had ever encountered, the first that she could say she wanted... No needed to see again._

_Whilst Coria could try and claim that she wanted to see him again due to the life debt she owed him, she knew that deep down there was another simpler reason for her desire. Magic to sustain themselves was the thing blood elves desired above anything, and this human Harry Potter had magic that restrained her hunger like nothing she had never encountered before..._

Chapter 4: Alliances and a plan of action.

Persona: Tyrande Whisperwind.

Looking across as the doors to her council chamber opened almost silently to admit the ones that were the purpose of this gathering, Tyrande couldn't help but agree with Jaylene's initial assessment that she had given the day before. The human immediately grabbed the attention of the majority of those sat at the semi-circular table, which consisted mainly of priestesses and a small number of sentinels headed by Jaylene. It wasn't anything overt that he said or did, but in the way he strode into the room without waiting for those that were meant to be guarding him.

His step was light and measured, each with the purpose of moving quickly whilst remaining as close to the ground as possible without shuffling, which considering his affinity to Earth magic was hardly surprising. His posture exuded readiness even though he was clearly trying to not seem aggressive, eyes flicking between Tyrande, Jaylene and several of the hidden alcoves where her sentinel bodyguards were standing watch. The next time his eyes flickered her way they caught her own and she was surprised by the depth of emotion that seemed to flare from them.

They were a soldier's eyes, loss and suffering clear to one who had experienced as much as Tyrande had, but there was also a cascade of other far brighter emotions that almost flowed across the connection their eyes had made. Then the human grinned slightly and bowed to her, somehow knowing that she was in charge even though she had deliberately not sat at the head of the council table, with the intent of letting one of the younger Priestesses take the lead in the discussion to come. When he came up from his bow however, the grin was gone and his eyes narrowed at something behind Tyrande, hissing rapidly to the Naga that up until this point had been staying a respectful three feet behind and to the left of the human, in the traditional manner an advisor or subordinate would do in many of the Azerothian cultures.

The hissing from the human visibly caused a reaction, stiffening and the raising of a few eyebrows amongst the night elves present, but Tyrande had informed them all of the circumstances before the pair arrived in order to make sure no one did anything rash, so there were no reactions greater than that. The Naga hissed something back, her body language screaming uncertainty, only to stiffen slightly when the human nodded and bowed her head to the council before speaking. "Honoured council of the night elves, I thank you for allowing us this meeting before any decisions are made. I am Nash'ala, exile of the Vashj clan."

The Naga paused as there were a few murmurs amongst the council members, the name of Lady Vashj, who had supported the traitor Illyaden in his mad quest to destroy Northrend was still synonymous with some of the worst traits of the Naga. There was a heavy tap that resonated around the room as Kelanas Windflower, the priestess that Tyrande had selected to lead the meeting as a learning experience for the young girl, looked around imperiously to quell those that had spoken up out of turn.

Kelanas then turned her gaze back to the Naga and gestured with her hand. "We will return to your origins later Nash'ala, but you are not the primary reason for this covenant as I am sure you have already guessed. Who is the human that you accompany and what did he say that has you so on edge?" Tyrande let a small smile slip out as Nash'ala relayed what had been said to the human, Kelanas was barely two hundred years old, by far the youngest member of the council she had summoned, but she was definitely utilising the lessons of leadership that had been imparted upon her very well to control the flow of conversation in the room and the council itself.

After a couple more moments of hissed conversation, Nash'ala turned back to the court. "Honoured council, this human has given his name as Harry Potter and he has come to seek the aid of your race and the other races of Azeroth. But first he relayed to me that he has sensed something off that he wishes to raise with you. I am hesitant because I know it will illicit anger amongst some of those present." She paused and Kelanas nodded and gestured around the table. "I have heard of the incidents that have occurred during your journey here, worry not Nash'ala, the council will not act with the same impatience that our kin have shown."

The reassurance seemed to do little to reduce Nash'ala's worry but she nodded and with a deep breath spoke once more. "Harry asked me to pose a simple question to you, and I will use his precise words for this, 'why does the giant tree have a faint trace of demonic corruption about it?'" As Nash'ala had predicted this was one of the few questions that would lead to a reaction despite Kelanas' promise. Tyrande managed to keep her reaction to a mere raised eyebrow but others in the council were by nowhere near as composed, standing in their seats and shouting in either common or Darnassian about the outrageous claim. Nash'ala had backed up a couple of paces as they did so, obviously terrified that the group would turn violent, but it was the humans reaction that interested Tyrande, moving rapidly but subtly closer to the Naga in a protective manner as his magic flared almost imperceptibly, cloak beginning to billow in a dangerous way.

With tempers flaring at the lack of response from the semi-cowering Nash'ala and Kelanas struggling to calm tensions down, Tyrande decided enough was enough and was about to bring order herself. But before she could step in there was a deafening crack from where Jaylene was sat. The champion of Darnassus looked around at the suddenly silenced council from where she sat at the now cracked table with a hint of scorn dominating her normally playful expression.

"Enough! Are you human school children or council members of the night elves? By the goddess, Nash'ala merely passed along the comments of a human whose powers are still unknown to us and some of you were prepared to exchange words for weapons! Now sit down and let them explain before you make even greater fools of yourselves and our race!" The now cowed council members quickly took their seats, no one wanting to further annoy the fuming Sentinel commander.

Kelanas took a moment to compose herself once more and then stood to address Nash'ala once more. "Whilst I would like to know what this human means by corruption of Teldrassil, I would first like to know about how he is so sure of its presence? From what I have heard of Commander Jaylene's report he was similarly able to sense a blood elf infiltrator even though she was stealthed at the time." That drew the attention of the council back to the matter at hand Tyrande noticed, such powers were definitely not amongst the repertoire of the denizens of Azeroth.

Nash'ala relayed the question to the human, though Tyrande supposed she should probably use his name out of courtesy. Harry didn't even look away from his scrutiny of Teldrassil as he spoke a long rolling hiss of a reply. Nash'ala's head fins fluttered as her face showed a mixture of surprise and... Awe? Tyrande managed to drag her attention back to Harry as Nash'ala spoke once more; her tone contemplative as she paused every few words to ensure that she did not say anything wrong that might upset the council. Whilst he strode back and forth in a semi-circle in front of the trees trunk, his eyes darted around the room, almost randomly enough that Tyrande would have dismissed it if it were not for the narrowing of his eyes each time he did so.

"Harry possesses a very powerful affinity with earth based magic, as I am sure that Champion Evensong's account of the Blood elf attack has already made clear to you all." There were at least eight different locations in the room that Harry's eyes focussed on in the short period that Tyrande had been paying attention, which was either a sign that his looks meant nothing or that there was a significant breach in her security as there were only meant to be 5 sentinel guards in the room.

"He can use his connection to the Earth to sense the heartbeats and movements of those that pass on it. Harry says that he has spread his earth around the room for the purpose of proving this point, he intends to do so by telling you where all of your 8 hidden guards are stationed around the room." Harry then looked up and hissed something out as Tyrande sighed. "Make that five guards, Harry says that three of them have just left in a hurry. Did we do something wrong?"

Jaelyne had also realised the problem as she stood hurriedly and walked round the council table to Tyrande as one of the five sentinel guards leapt down next to the high priestess. "High Priestess, Archdruid Staghelm is on his way here with a large group of druid elders. We can try and stall him but we will not be able to stop him gaining access to this building." Tyrande sighed, they had learned nothing concrete about the strange human yet and knowing Staghelm's propensity for belittling the other races, it would not take more than five minutes for him or Harry to come to blows.

Just as Jaelyne reached her seat, obviously aiming to coordinate a response to the breach, the doors to the council room burst open causing everyone to turn cautiously in its direction. Three hulking druids stonily faced off with sentinel guards as they stepped into the room, a vanguard to the half a dozen druid elders that were stood haughtily behind them. The largest of them stood at well over 8 feet and was the one that Tyrande really didn't want to see right now, his characteristic Antlers sticking out of his leaf green hair framing his furious expression.

Fandral Staghelm strode forwards, casually batting one of the sentinels to the side and out of his way with an imperious wave of his free hand. "High Priestess Tyrande, what a surprise for me to find you here. I wonder how you thought you could hold a council meeting without thinking of informing the Druidic council that you were doing so." His voice dripped with sarcasm as he cast a look around the room, his eyes settling on where Harry was stood before he strode towards him. "Ah yes, so this is the human that you are all so interested in. I can sense his power, but he is still nothing compared to us."

Tyrande couldn't help but be impressed by Harry's lack of reaction to Fandral towering over him in an obvious attempt to intimidate him, the human merely looking up at the Archdruid with a contemplative expression. Kelanas responded to his comments with a look of derision before giving a equally scathing reply. "Last I checked Archdruid; High Priestess Tyrande did not have to answer to the druid council for matters relating to sentinel affairs. This matter was raised by Champion Evensong and who she wishes to discuss such matter is her concern, not yours."

The young priestess' comments brought a small smile to Tyrande's face for a second before she returned to a mask of neutrality as Fandral whirled around to face Kelanas, his face tinged purple with rage. "You would dare assume to tell me what I can and cannot do? For you to think that your priesthood is superior to the druids and gets to act with impunity because Stormrage is gone. I shall not stand for such insults." There were growls of agreement from several of the druids that had accompanied Staghelm, one of them pointing over to the previously overlooked Nash'ala. "The Archdruid is right, we druids know that there is only one way to deal with the Naga, and that is with the sword!"

The Druid stepped forwards threateningly whilst grasping the hilt of his blade, with the obvious intent of fulfilling his threat, causing the sentinels in turn to raise their weapons in defense of the one their leader had tasked them with protecting. Just when both sides were going to come to blows Harry was suddenly in front of Nash'ala, a rune encrusted sword in hand as half a dozen humanoid sized earthen golems rose in a semi-circle behind him.

He hissed something and Tyrande couldn't be sure of whether he was saying something or just that angry. The appearance of the golems, rather than deter the druids, seem to enrage them further as one of them shouted. "It is true; this is a human servant of the Old Gods!" Fandral had yet to say anything further, the small look of satisfaction on his face letting Tyrande know that he felt he had done enough to disrupt any hope of a peaceful meeting. As the druids began to charge forwards, Tyrande decided enough was enough.

Vaulting from her chair in a manner that would have been impossible without the continued training she forced herself through everyday, Tyrande was amongst the druids in two leaps, catching the first with a blow to his windpipe that left him wheezing for breath as she spun, her second strike impacting the kneecap of the druid that had first threatened Nash'ala and shattering it. One of the druids swung a blade at her, which she ducked under easily and replied with an uppercut that had the attacker on his back a moment later. Standing she saw the remaining druids paused warily in front of her, the arrow tips she could see in her peripheral vision letting her know that backup was now in place. Glaring imperiously around the small group, Tyrande resisted the urge to let them know her displeasure physically as Fandral stormed towards her, obviously angry at the damage done to his sycophants. Given a target for her anger Tyrande didn't even let him open his mouth before she spat out her warning.

"Fandral Staghelm, you and your minions have now overstepped your bounds twice today. First with your storming of a private meeting, which you were not invited to and now you have attempted an attack on honoured guests of the Night elves. You will leave here now and you will hope that I cannot prove that it was your people that were spying on this meeting before you arrived, otherwise I will remind you of the power structure in Darnassus. And it will be a lesson you will not enjoy!"

For the first time in a long time she saw Fandral back down from an argument, albeit grudgingly and with no hint of remorse for the actions of him or his druids had undertaken. With a wave of his hand roots burst from the floor to pick up the wounded druids, the damage left by the roots tearing themselves in the wooden flooring after he had left an obvious if somewhat immature gesture of defiance and anger. Watching the druids leave in a much more subdued fashion than their bold entrance, Tyrande let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding in, Fandral had grown bold indeed if he felt he could get away with such indignities without consequence.

Turning round Tyrande realised there was still a problem to deal with as Harry had not shifted from his defensive stance, looking at her with a new level of respect and apprehension. Now she just had to calm down and salvage the situation so that she could find out more about the humans mysterious powers. After the stressful confrontation she had just gone through on his behalf, giving her information to mull over was the least he could do. Luckily for Tyrande and the other night elves that formed the conclave, Nash'ala seemed to have realised that she was safe for the time being as she moved forwards to lightly grasp Harry on the shoulder with one hand, hissing softly the entire time. The human... mage she supposed was the closest term she could apply to his skillset, lowered his blade so it was now resting at his side as Nash'ala continued to speak to him.

Now that Tyrande was able to pay full attention to Harry rather than the intrusive druids she realised that the blade he now wielding had definitely not been on his person when he had entered the room. In addition, the runes that covered the main part of the blade firmly grabbed her attention. Runic weapons were amongst the rarest on Azeroth, the methods of inscribing such magical foci onto weapons having been lost long ago during the Sundering. The Burning legion and their followers were the only prolific rune users left, though there was the odd case here and there of a hero or adventurer finding a runic blade amongst the various ruins throughout Azeroth. And that wasn't to mention the dragons, whose elder members certainly knew the intricacies that would be involved in the forging of such magics. So whilst such a weapon did not bode well for the humans affiliations, it was not the damning evidence that some of the younger more... rash races amongst the horde and alliance factions might jump upon as proof of evil doing.

Kelanas' voice broke Tyrande from her thoughts as the young priest broke the silence that had pervaded the room. "Many thanks for helping to evict the intruders Lady Tyrande and please accept our humblest apologies Nash'ala for the distasteful attitudes of some of our brethren. I think I speak for the whole council in that we would understand if you needed a recess to compose yourself and confide with the Magi." Nash'ala paused in her hissing to Harry before shaking her head. "I-I think I can continue, just let me finish explaining to Harry what just happened as best I can, he knows even less of Night Elf politics than I do." Harry chose this moment to wave his arm and the golems that he had summoned sank slowly into the floor, no sign of their presence a few moments later on the wooden floor, in stark contrast to Staghelm's actions.

He hissed something, a long waxing hiss that sent the faintest of shivers down Tyrande's spine at the audible irritation in the sound, and Nash'ala looked puzzled before turning back to Kelanas. "Harry wanted to know who that was and what position he holds in your society. He assumes that he is the one responsible for the growth of the tree we are stood in as he says the same corruption is with him, but he does not wish to dwell on that at the moment. Once he knows who is in charge he will tell them about himself and why he is here." Tyrande got the feeling that Nash'ala had at best shortened what the man had actually said, if not changed the tone of the questions entirely. But there was no way for Tyrande to prove it as Kelanas gave a brief and mostly unbiased (for one of Tyrande's apprentices anyways) introduction into the intricacies of Night elf government and Staghelm's position as Arch-druid of the druid sect, describing the other sects in passing to give as full an outline as possible. Nash'ala translated this all and the two had a hushed conversation for a couple of minutes before she slithered forward again.

"Harry has decided with my advice to explain his presence and problem to you, in the hopes that you will be able to help him locate a group that will best be able to help him. To explain this properly, the first thing the honoured council should know is that Harry Potter is not from Azeroth, but instead from a planet called Earth which has been overrun by the burning legion..." One of the council members actually spat out his drink at this revelation, though Tyrande had suspected something of the sort given the how, when and where he appeared, there certainly had been no Alliance information about an Earth mage of such powers.

Besides, it had been known for millenia that there were other planets that had been magically active life worlds; otherwise the burning legion would not have been able to survive in such numbers. Looking around Tyrande knew that Jaylene would need little convincing on this point given her emissary work with the Draenei, but hopefully the human had some way of proving his word quickly and easily, otherwise this meeting was going to take a long time indeed...

Persona: Coria Lightblade.

It had taken some time for the patrols to calm down to their usual frequencies once more; obviously thinking that she had managed to escape Darkshore or something similar. Coria had used the opportunity of the relaxing guards to infiltrate Auberdine once more and investigate. It quickly became clear that there had been no official Night Elf involvement in the disappearance of her kin, though if there had been any official record of such actions it would most likely only be kept written inside Darnassus itself.

That place was somewhere Coria would not step even now so she had admitted defeat in the matter. With this dead end having yielded no results, she had chosen to return towards Ashenvale once more rather than using her hearthstone to return to Silvermoon City. One more search of the blood elves camp and the surrounding area would at least let her honestly report to the Regent that she had searched thoroughly for her erstwhile brethren. Standing from her bedroll, which she had set up under an overlook above the small night elf encampment that was referred to as the 'grove of the ancients', Coria suddenly stiffened as magic suffused the air in front of her. Drawing her blade defensively in one hand whilst the other grasped her hearthstone, Coria took in the half a dozen figures that had appeared in front of her, rapidly changing her mind about fighting them as she looked down the arrow shaft of Champion Evensong once more.

The human mage she had tried to save in Auberdine was stood in the middle of the rather hostile group, looking a little disorientated as he recovered from whatever spell he had used to transport them to Coria's location. He seemed to collect himself after a moment as the other three night elves, two more sentinels and a priestess from their garb and equipment, spread out to check the area. The human then proceeded to surprise her when he looked in her direction, smiled almost apologetically in her direction before noticing Evensong's raised bow and frowning. He stepped forward and grabbed the bow with a firm hand, making his comment clear with a hiss that Nash'ala quickly translated. "Champion Evensong, the blood elf is not to be threatened unless she attacks us." Evensong scowled as Coria dragged her eyes away from the arrow that had been pointed in her direction to instead look at Nash'ala with a confused look.

"Not that I am not grateful not to be shot at again by Evensong, but would one of you explain how did you get here? And why are you now working with the night elves after having been their prisoners Nash'ala?" Nash'ala gestured at Harry before shrugging slightly. "The how is something Harry hasn't fully explained and the why... well that will take some time to explain so first I think we should introduce ourselves, though you seem to already know some of our names." Coria weighed up her options even as the other night elves returned. She could activate her hearthstone and hope that none of them noticed until it teleported her away, but it would require her to stay still for at least 10 seconds and the chances of none of the night elves noting the characteristic blue glow in her hand as she did so were next to nothing. As if reading her mind Jaelyne gestured with her bow again towards the hand holding the hearthstone. "Drop the hearthstone blood elf, we aren't going to do anything to you, I promise."

The last part sounded forced, but considering the hostility that the blood elves had gotten from the other alliance races during and after the Legions invasion of Azeroth the night elf champion was being positively civil with her demand. Coria sighed at being held at weapon point for the second time that week when a thought occurred to her. If they weren't here to take her back to Darnassus and instead talk with her, then talking was what she should do. "I would prefer to keep it Evensong, whilst you have promised not to harm me, after our last meeting I really will feel better having it to hand."

To her surprise Evensong chuckled for a moment before replying. "Well you were spying in Night Elf territory, that and you tried to stab me Blood Elf." "The name is Coria Lightblade and after the human sensed me I was hardly going to give up peacefully given the night elf record with prisoners like Illyaden." All four night elves stiffened at this and the forced smile vanished from Evensongs face, making Coria wonder if she had overstepped what little ground the night elves had been prepared to give her. Luckily there was a cough from the man in question, before he hissed something to Nash'ala, who replied with a short hiss of her own before turning to them.

"Harry would prefer being able to get on with matters peacefully rather than have you two bickering in a language he cannot understand. He thanks you for your help with your council Champion Evensong and invites you to contact him if you need something in future." Evensong seemed unsure of how to respond to the rather nice if blunt dismissal but eventually she bowed and bid the odd pair farewell. The two sentinels were quick to join her in grasping the moon glaive that had been on the ground in the middle of the group, something Coria only noticed now that things had calmed down somewhat.

With a word from Harry in a language that Coria didn't understand the trio were gone in a small whoosh of air, leaving her, the strange human Mage and his Naga companion and the night elf priestess standing in the clearing in silence. Coria was just glad that the priestess looked even more ill at ease than she no doubt did. Looking closer it was the priestess was young, with the garments of a priestess adept as opposed to a journeyman or master healer. The priestess was a good four or five inches taller that Coria, dark purple skin contrasting with the light green hair that was tied up in a long braid down her back. From the odd glimpse that Coria could catch of the priestesses eyes, which was harder than she would have thought it would be considering the determination the night elf had with meeting her eyes, she would guess they were a dark brown with the odd golden fleck inter spacing them.

Nash'ala spoke up in obvious attempt to break the awkward silence, drawing Coria from her musings to pay attention. "Coria? That was your name right? This is Kelanas Windflower, who is here with us on behalf of Lady Tyrande. We have no intent to hurt or otherwise injure you; we just wish to talk with you." Coria couldn't help the sarcasm that snuck through into her reply, whilst the human's magic had sated her hunger for magic well enough for the first two days, on the third day the thirst had returned, hungry for more of the same magic to satisfy her appetite. She had siphoned some magic from other sources she had found in the area but the magic had been unappetising to her, leaving her with an irritating feeling that would just not go away. "Well don't be offended if I am a little sceptical about all this, you still haven't explained what the hell you want with me and why the hell a Naga is travelling with a human and a night elf of all people."

Nash'ala nodded in what Coria assumed was understanding before speaking up once more. "It takes a while for it to be explained, but the main thing you must understand is that Harry is not Alliance or like any other human you will have encountered. Now, what do you know about the Burning Legion..."

Timeskip:

Half an hour later Coria was sat around the newly made campfire in the little encampment, looking wide eyed at the human who had been meditating for most of that time as Nash'ala did her best to explain things. "So there is another planet out there that has fallen to the Legion like Outland? Only this planet has predominantly humans rather than Draenei? What are Harry's plans and how does this involve me?" She noticed the man in question open his eyes and look in her direction when he said his name; obviously he was at least beginning to associate the word in common with his name. Nash'ala seemed stumped by these questions and spoke to Harry for the first time in the explanation, something that showed the two had spoken at length about it before now.

The two hissed away for a couple of minutes before Nash'ala turned back to Coria, the night elf girl also leaning forward slightly from where she had been sat off to one side, the answer to the question obviously of interest to her as well. "In his discussions with Lady Tyrande, she mentioned the divisions between the Alliance and Horde groups here and whilst she wished for Harry to form an alliance with the night elves and therefore with the Alliance, there are certain...elements within the night elf government that have caused Harry to become concerned how his people would be treated in such an arrangement. Tyrande mentioned that there is a human city off the coast of Kalimdor that has maintained friendly relations with several races in both groups and Harry was hoping to set up something similar with your assistance Ms Lightblade."

The idea of a second Theramore whose government would be friendly to the blood elves as well as other races which the blood elves had wished for diplomatic contact with, filled with mages as powerful as the one sat in front of her, had Coria on the verge of salivating with eagerness. But she wouldn't just jump on a chance when she had her own missions to complete, especially just out of the goodness of her heart. "Well, you are certainly proposing an interesting concept Nash'ala, but I am a busy woman with things that the Regent has assigned me that i cannot simply drop. What is in it for me to join on to this gigantic undertaking?" Nash'ala didn't even bat an eye as she translated what had been said to Harry, the young Naga obviously experienced with this type of discussion in the cut throat politics her race so enjoyed.

Whilst the human was thinking, Nash'ala seemed to take the initiative and replied herself. "I am sure you have something in mind for your price Coria otherwise you would not have been so blunt. What is it you want, gold? You would not risk losing the chance of a new ally over such a thing. We have already offered your race an alliance with Harry's forces so it cannot be that you desire. So what is it?" Gone was the timid prisoner that had been shown when the pair had been captive, the faith that Harry had obviously placed in her had given her confidence that changed her into an entirely different person. Deciding to get to the crux of the matter as the irritating need built up inside her once more, Coria pointed across at Harry whose face morphed into bemused surprise even as she made her demand clear. "You want to know what I want? I want him..."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hehehe, I think we will leave it there for this chapter. Some drama, intrigue and character development all wrapped up with a bit more understanding of what Harry's still forming goals are leading. I have had people asking for Harry to just join the alliance or at least the night elves, but I wanted to avoid the rose tinted view that seems to pervade fanfiction about night elves and show some of the darker sides to the proud and ancient race. Staghelm will hopefully turn out to be like Danzo from Naruto in this story, strong belief in the superiority of the night elves, staunch traditionalist and xenophobe and has the support of a good portion of the night elf populace in Malfurion's absence. Though Tyrande shows her true character in a kick ass manner I hope you all appreciate!
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this, feel free to review and let me know what you think :)


	5. If you go down to the woods today

Chapter 5: If you go down to the woods today, you're in for a bear surprise.

Persona: Harry Potter.

"It was probably the most awkward encounter I've had to deal with since you guys... well when we worked things out. Speaking of awkward questions, where are Ginny and Hermione? Your last message implied that she had found something to help me with the translational problems?" It was obviously late back on Earth as only Daphne had been manning the control room when he had connected via the beacon, though a muttered patronus had quickly brought Susan and for some reason Ellen somewhat groggy eyed to sit in front of the screen as he relayed the conversations and adventures he had thus far on Azeroth.

While they had been waking up Harry had filled them on the incident with Coira as well as his discussions with the Night Elf governing members, doing his utmost to emphasise that nothing had happened with the blood elf woman, though Daphne merely quirked an eyebrow at his hastened babbling whilst Susan and Ellen giggled away in the background. Daphne's facial expression let Harry know that she had something she wished to say and so he wound up the last muttered excuse before nodding slightly for her to speak. When she did speak a moment later she seemed to entirely ignore

"Hermione was doing a review of the wards last I checked Potter, we are not sure how they will be dealing with Earths depleting magic and little miss know it all has been running studies every second she hasn't been in the library doing research to help your ungrateful ass. I am sure they will be fine for a while longer without us needing to worry about powering them using less... civilised methods, but Hermione is someone you don't argue with if you don't have to, as you well know you merde faced son of a maggot." The war with the Burning Legion had changed Daphne considerably from how those who had known her in Hogwarts would remember her. Gone was the noble and reserved heir to her clan line, only conversing with those that she felt were worthy of her time and never deviating from the very picture of noble society. Her previously long blonde silken hair was cropped to a shoulder length bun and her face a mass of scars and burns from battles and two bouts of captivity and torture, pale blue eyes gleaming out from the war scarred surface with an intensity and intelligence that only a few could match.

Harry didn't think the look detracted anything from the serious caustic mouthed woman, she certainly didn't care how people reacted to her looks or her words, which was one of the things that made her so brilliant in Harry's eyes. Daphne never held anything back now, the loss of her family at the hands of the Legion making her determined to force everyone away from her so that she couldn't be hurt again. Whether that made him special to have the girl try and connect with him emotionally Harry wasn't sure, but he found himself enjoyed the barbs that she threw at him and the other girls like confetti, they certainly got surprisingly inventive at times when they did something dangerous or foolish. Without waiting for a response from him, or anticipating that he wished for her to finish her statement first, Daphne carried on with a short breath for air punctuating the minute pause that had been left in the air.

"The nerdy one has been notified by patronus though so I am sure she will bustle her way in here shortly before trying to take over this entire discussion with work. Ginger slut is out on patrol with some of the others, she is the most capable of faking your powers and that should keep the demons from working out where you have fucked off to so she will not be joining us. That means you have time to tell the three of us what your plans are from here. Any luck working out where there might be another demon gate that we can use to help make the beacon's portal system workable? As much as I don't trust anything the faerie and big nose have worked on to work properly the first time through, I would feel better if your cocky ass had someone there watching it."

That was probably as close to 'I am worried about you, don't do something stupid' as Daphne had ever gotten with him, even when he had first been going on the mission she had simply shaken her head and told him to 'try not end up back on fucking Earth like the idiot you are'. Faerie was Daphne's favourite nickname for Ellen, as she knew how much she got annoyed by the connotation, and big nose was one of the nicer phrases Daphne called Hermione. Though given that most of the other refugees rarely made it past 'shit face' and 'bastard', the fact that Daphne used such mild insults was probably more of a sign of her caring than anything else Harry could think of. The mention of plans brought Harry back from his introspection at the habits of his friends and he thought back to the discussions he had through Nash'ala with Kelanas and Coira the night before, as well as the discussion he had with Tyrande after the intrusion of the Night Elf Druid leader.

"From what I have gathered this world has about a dozen major races that we might need to be concerned about straight away, most of which are divided into two factions, the horde and the alliance. The humans of this world seem to mostly be aligned with the alliance along with the Night Elves that I had the pleasure of meeting earlier, though Kelanas mentioned a prosperous human city called Theramore that was staying firmly neutral in this particular dick measuring contest, I plan on visiting them first to discuss the possibility of an agreement as well as to ask their leader why they are not standing with the other humans. I also want as close to a neutral opinion as I can get from someone here about the good and bad of both sides, something that was very difficult to obtain last night"

Harry smirked as his analogy to the political strife in Azeroth caused Ellen to choke for a moment, he blamed it on Daphne but he could see why she had so much fun with it. Drawing himself back to the plan, whilst negotiations and diplomacy were not anywhere near as urgent as actually evacuating Earth itself, in the long term if Earth's people were to settle here they would need allies who knew the history and culture of the world he now found himself in. Which was why he had allowed Kelanas and Coira to argue for several hours about the good and bad things both sides had done over the last twenty or so years since the last major invasion of Azeroth by the Burning Legion, it allowed him to get a realistic view of both sides as well as beginning to understand where quite a bit of the underlying distrust and hatred of both sides stemmed from.

In general it was one hell of a complicated mess of racial and cultural tensions that was not helped in the slightest by the actions of those who worshipped the Burning Legion on both sides, something that Harry wished he could avoid but knew that the addition of such a force as his phantoms would disrupt the razor fine balance that this world seemed to be resting upon. With such a dangerous future in mind, Harry had spoken with both women about how he could improve the opinion of both sides towards his soon to appear myriad of refugees, which was part of the reason they had not simply used some of the hearthstones that Tyrande had given him to help him traverse Azeroth.

"In an effort to try and improve our standing with the Night Elves here I spoke to both Kelanas and Tyrande about what I could do to help whilst I travelled to Theramore. Turns out that is a rather stupid question to ask as there were literally hundreds of places I could help the Night Elves against their various enemies. I am travelling south to somewhere called Ashenvale forest, the Night Elves are having difficulty with large numbers of corrupted bear like creatures called Furbolgs there." Harry paused at this point as a flustered and wild eyed Hermione charged into the room, but she was working away at something on an enchanted tablet so when she didn't offer a greeting he decided to carry on with the update until she was done.

"Decided that a hunting mission was easier than the exploration or patrolling missions that Tyrande also had available. Also Coira, who seems to really like my magic for some reason but we will get back to that later, has business in Ashenvale forest as well. With the Blood Elves being horde members they would be useful allies to have in order to curb any anti human sentiment the other members of the coalition might have towards us. Supposedly some of her kindred have gone missing and she is tasked with finding them and rescuing them if they are still alive, I thought it would be a good idea to assist in this as it would no doubt earn us brownie points with her kind as well."

The politicking and favour earning was something that Harry had become quickly adept in during his time hunting dark wizards on the continent, dealing with politicians and neutral parties whose information and resources would be useful in his mission. Here on Azeroth he didn't have the advantage of his fame as the Boy-Who-Conquered, but he could live with that, that meant he had a chance to build his own fame for once. Hermione seemed to have finished whatever she had been working on and looked up with a frazzled but kind smile on her face.

"Harry, glad to hear you are surviving over there, I must admit that with all the rushing to prepare the portal beacon I didn't think about any potential language problems you might have if you encountered any natives. I have one spell that might help in this case, found it in one of the really old textbooks from Hogwarts." Daphne seemed to mutter something at this point, it was too quiet for Harry to make it out but Susan snorted before cuffing the seated woman round the head lightly, the redhead merely giving Daphne a stern disapproving look when Daphne whirled round to face her. Hermione carried on as if the two of them weren't there bickering in front of her, a habit she probably picked up from dealing with him and Ron in all likelihood.

"It's a spell that travelling wizards used in ancient times to communicate with local tribes, it effectively connects the minds of you and the target, allowing you to use their linguistic abilities as if they were your own. Also helped with learning the language itself as you would think in English and then it would come out in the other language. Of course, there are some drawbacks, which is why it ended up being forgotten with the spread of the major languages like Latin. It is very magic intensive, even you will not be able to use it for too long Harry, maybe twenty to thirty minutes at most. It also requires you to remain close to the spells target, the book lists twenty paces as its upward limit. Finally it requires a runic array placed on both you and the target, nothing particularly complex so you should be able to manage it Harry but once the runic arrays are bound with blood you won't be able to change its target without the death of the original bond holder."

So, magic draining, distance limited and a one use spell unless he wanted to start killing off his new friends and allies, got it. Harry would work out how to broach the idea to Nash'ala later, she was the best choice for the spell as the other two may get called back by their respective peoples, whilst Nash'ala had told him that as an exile of the Naga she was land bound for life. This meant that even if she did leave she would not be welcome at any of their enclaves, so travelling with him was an not only an ideal choice but one that was as beneficial for her as it was for him.

"Got it Hermione, send me the details across via the beacon and I will work it out with Nash'ala on my end. Now it's nearly dusk here and Coira wants to make it to the outskirts of Ashenvale before night truly sets in, supposedly there are some truly dangerous wild animals out here. I love you guys, stay safe until I have things under control here." Ellen and Daphne blushed at his effusive statement whilst Susan and Hermione simply smiled back as he cut the connection. Whilst he wanted to have held it longer to say some proper goodbyes holding the connection open was a rather tedious and draining task, if half of what Nash'ala had told him about Azeroth's wild animals were true Harry would need to have enough magic available for a prolonged fighting withdrawal.

Standing from where he had been crouched to activate the beacon, Harry activated the shrinking runes on the complex piece of machinery and it shrunk down to a size he could comfortably attach to his belt once more. With a translation spell on the way his way of communicating with the various people of this world improved dramatically, so he could focus on other matters at hand. Making his way to the edge of the clearing where the others were stood waiting for him, Harry nodded his head in thanks whilst summoning a pebble from the base of a nearby redwood.

Coira was stood rather impatiently, shifting from one foot to another in rapid succession as her eyes darted between his own, his wand and the beacon attached to his belt. Given what he had been told about the Blood Elves thirst for magic, which was hardly surprising given their former reliance on a well of magic to sustain them, it reminded him of the agreement they had hashed out in Coira's hideout the night before. With another flick of his wand he transfigured it into a simple cross necklace with a titanium chain and clasp, putting enough magic into the spell that it would normally stay transformed indefinitely, before walking up to the Blood Elf and holding it out with a small smile.

The woman almost couldn't get it off him fast enough, holding it near her mouth as she breathed in deeply whilst closing her eyes, her body language jumping from anxious to relaxed in an instant. She was smiling when she opened her eyes once more and quickly spoke for a few seconds, Nash'ala moving up next to him as she gave a whispered translation.

" _Coira expresses her thanks for the... snack as she calls it and wants to know if you are now ready to move on to Ashenvale. It is just through that pass."_ Nash'ala's words echoed Coira's gesture to the south, where there was an obvious gap between the two sets of mountains that towered over the forests and encompassed this area of shoreline from the rest of Kalimdor. As Harry tried to gauge the distance Kelanas spoke this time, the Night Elf's soft spoken words like listening to a choral hymn in a language you didn't know but thought were beautiful anyway. Nash'ala waited for Kelanas to finish speaking before talking to Harry once more, her face showing a pleased smile Harry hadn't seen since he first defended her from the insulting Night Elves.

" _Supposedly Kelanas says that Tyrande will have sent word ahead to the leaders of the Night Elf settlements in Ashenvale about our party. This means that the patrols and guards should know we are coming and therefore not attack us on sight. Also there will be room at the inn in the main settlement, Astranaar I think she called it, pronunciation of surface names is not my strongest point."_ Excellent that meant they would only have to worry about the wild animals, demons and other denizens of the forest on their way to the settlement in question. Harry gestured down the road they had been following from Auberdine with a small grin of his own on his face.

" _Shall we continue on our way then? When we make camp I have quite the bit to tell you about my next plan..."_

Time skip: 3 days

"Here comes another group of Furbolgs, they seem to get bigger every time we encounter them!" Coira's cry prompted Harry to look up from where he had been treating a pair of wounded Night Elf sentinels they had encountered after engaging a pack of the corrupted bearmen moving through the forest northwest of where Astranaar was meant to be. Cancelling the translational charm, which he had cast to allow him to calm the badly wounded sentinel so that he could patch up his wounds, Harry cast the last of his healing charms on the bite and claw marks that littered the man's body.

The Sentinel was in no condition to fight, but Harry didn't think that he would be necessary for this little problem, shifting to a standing pose as he sent out magic into the earth around him, his senses expanding tenfold as the vibrations and shifts in weight upon the ground painted him a clearer picture of what was going on around him than his eyes ever could. There were half a dozen Furbolgs approaching from the west, obviously attracted by the sounds of conflict due to the fight with the first band of four Furbolgs, whose bodies now lay around the once tranquil glade.

Harry's face narrowed into a frown as he sensed the earth around two of the Furbolgs, it felt muffled or even strained, probably magic users affiliated with earth spells, like the white Furbolg in the first group. This complicated matters slightly as Harry found it a lot harder to control the earth around these Furbolgs, it was almost like something was directly resisting his magical spells. Mixed with the Furbolg's bulk, remarkable resilience and bloodthirsty ferociousness, Harry was not surprised that the Night Elves had been having difficulty in maintaining control over the forests.

Just as he was about to relinquish the stream of magic and get ready for the coming skirmish, Harry felt another presence on the edge of his senses, one that if he had not been on edge and restless he would have dismissed as a wild animal like the others that moved throughout the woods around them. The presence was powerful, not great enough to be a major threat to Harry, but if it was waiting for the Furbolgs to attack before it made a move that could change things considerably.

The presence seemed to realise that Harry had noticed it, making it another magic user, and slowly began to move forwards in an obvious manner, the size and vibrations of the footprints letting Harry know that it was in fact another Furbolg. The other six Furbolgs were too close to ignore any longer however, so Harry broke his focus and the vision of the clearing came back to him, turning as the first of the hulking bearmen cleared the treeline. The demonic corruption that had caused their descent into the rabid monsters before him was clearly visible, large pustulating sores and warts mottled their fur, eyes bloodshot and saliva mixed with green ichor dripping from their slightly opened jaws.

One of them, bigger and burlier than the others and with a pale yellow tinge to its fur, stepped forwards and raised a filthy serrated claw in Harry's direction. It growled something but without the translation spell Harry hadn't the slightest clue what it uttered, but the intent was clear enough as the other Furbolgs roared before moving forwards at a loping run. Harry started off with a piercing curse as he started walking slowly towards them, having found that _diffindo_ and _stupefy_ spells had very little effect on the Furbolg's thick skin and innate magic resistance. The spell pierced a hole in the leading Furbolg's shoulder causing it to shriek whilst Kelanas started chanting on his left, Harry following it up with a spear of earth bigger than he was drawn forth from the ground before being banished in the direction of the Furbolg charge.

The yellow Furbolg dodged to the side to avoid the careening missile, which impaled one of the magic using Furbolgs that followed behind it, sending the beast sprawling backwards even as the other Furbolgs continued to run towards them. The other Furbolg magic user raised a claw and with a bone chilling growl sent a fireball in their direction, causing Harry to break off from unleashing another pair of piercing curses to erect a _protego_ shield in front of him, the shield almost buckling under the strength of the attack.

Luckily as Harry recovered for a moment from the assault the others in his party took up the slack, Coira whipping a pair of knives from her belt to bury themselves in the raised arm of one of the Furbolgs who had brought it up to protect its face which had been her intended target. At the same time Kelanas finished uttering whatever spell she had been preparing and thrust her arms in the direction of the Furbolgs, fire shooting forth from her palms and slamming into one of the smaller Furbolgs, setting it's fur alight and causing it to stop charging as it writhed in pain because of the burns.

As the remaining Furbolgs reached twenty feet from them Harry readied his favourite battlefield spell, one perfected against the Burning Legion demons who preferred close combat to range. The spell _mina terra_ , which was in Spanish as opposed to Latin, roughly translated to 'earthen mine', was a silent cast spell which he directed at the ground in front of the Furbolgs a moment later. The magic of the spell burrowed into the ground it was cast at and hardened the minerals in it into shards of hardened rock. When someone triggered the spell, by stepping on the affected area, the magic detonated in the same manner as a muggle landmine, sending the sharpened rocks and mineral deposits out as shrapnel.

The explosion was impressive, as it always was when you caused the upheaval of over a ton of earth, the resulting dust and smoke obscuring the site of the Furbolgs in front of him. Whilst Harry would normally assume that such a spell would have finished the job, the fact that he had seen the Furbolg he had hit with the earth spear start trying to get back to its feet before the mine had detonated meant he was not going to assume anything at this point. He was proved right a moment later when the yellow Furbolg burst from the settling dust to take a swing for his head. Even as he ducked under the swipe and summoned the sword of Gryffindor into his hand, Harry couldn't help but marvel at the resilience of the Furbolg in front of him, multiple bleeding cuts and wounds in its fur that would have felled any lesser creature in an instant as well as two large splinters of rock embedded deep into its torso.

The creature was probably disorientated by the explosion as well, flailing attacks easy to avoid before Harry saw his chance, darting in and striking with the blade deep into the Furbolg's hide, Gryffindor's sword slicing through its matted fur with ease as Coira darted in to deal several punishing strikes of her own. The creature gave a final keening cry under the assault before its limbs stopped flailing and it slowly fell forwards with a heavy thud. The dust cleared enough moments later for Harry to see the other Furbolgs in the mob had all been felled by the explosion, whilst the Furbolg that had been on fire and the white Furbolg he had injured with the spear were now immobilised as thick spiked vines curled around them, rooting them firmly in place.

A deep growling noise from behind him made Harry whirl round, he had forgotten about the other Furbolg with the skirmish getting underway, something he cursed himself mentally for. The new arrival seemed different to the other Furbolgs Harry had just fought, and it took Harry a moment to realise why even as the Furbolg stood from where it had been crouched, one paw on the ground in a manner rather similar to Harry's own casting of earth magic. This Furbolg showed no signs of corruption that was so prolific amongst the others and the growling continued for a few moments longer before Harry realised the Furbolg was speaking to them. With a tap of his wand Harry activated the translation array once more, just in time to catch the main part of the Furbolg's speech.

"Rorgrash was a powerful warrior, before he followed Bloodclaw down the dark path. Brave you are human, to go claw to claw with one of my kind, even a badly wounded one. You also travel with interesting companions, a blood elf and Night Elf are not friendly not to mention the snake one. Perhaps with your powers you might help save my tribe from itself yet. I am Vera Darksnout, shaman of the Thistlefur tribe, leader of those who have not fallen to the corruption like these." The newly identified Vera raised a hand to point at the two still living Furbolgs, whose struggling had lessened in the vines that Harry assumed Vera had cast upon them.

"I will have warriors come to take these two back to our refuge, away from the corruption in the main village they should recover with time. That corruption is what I wish to speak to you about human, whilst I would not normally ask for the help of an outsider these are desperate times indeed. We have encountered corruption before, an ancient idol corrupted by the demons of the legion enscrolled our entire tribe to its will after our leader stole it, our salvation only realised when a Druid named Broll retrieved the idol. This time it was magical charms given to our tribe by the nearby troll clans, in the name of friendship we were told, though it is obvious now that we were deceived." It was obvious that the words were difficult for Vera to say out loud and it took a moment longer for him to speak again, mulling over what Harry could tell was going to be a request for help.

"Our leader, Dal Bloodclaw, he has fallen too far to be saved now. Even now he has sacrifices ready for transferring to the Legion camp at fire scar, such is his selfish desire for power at any costs. He needs to be dealt with if our tribe is to have any chance of recovering from this madness. So I ask this of you, head into our village human and return with Dal's charm necklace. With it may be able to find a way to remove the corruption placed upon it and the other charms worn by our tribesmen." Normally Harry would be a little wary of such a request, especially given the obvious power of the Furbolg making the request, but the idea of a full on civil war between the two sides of the tribe was a very serious thing to ignore, in addition to the mention of demons and sacrifices to be considered. After a glance to the others Harry turned back to Vera and nodded his head slowly.

"I will do what I can, where is this camp of yours then? I will need to hurry as I am already meant to be aiding my companions with their own tasks." He would have preferred to ask more questions but the headache generated by the translation spell was worsening with every passing second and as such he wanted the conversation over with quickly. Nash'ala had been surprisingly trusting when he had told her about the translation runes and what they entailed, but he supposed given the array of esoteric magic he had displayed thus far as well as his repeated defence of her from the Night Elves there was a level of wonder and trust the young Naga had for him that swayed her decisions.

Vera pointed off to the East, away from the road and deeper into the twisted woods of Ashenvale. "It is not far, I imagine given your powers human you will be able to find it easier than most. I will stay here and watch over the Elves until help comes, perhaps this meeting is a sign from the spirits..." Vera carried on speaking but Harry cut the translation charm, the headache fading from a thundering roar to a dull thud in a few seconds after the fading magic, he had the important information now and could rely on Nash'ala to tell him anything else that Vera said that was important.

Waiting for the Furbolg leader to stop speaking, Harry instead spent his time reviewing his performance in the combats he had been involved in since entering this world, given the strength and resilience of the Furbolgs he had faced, as well as the fact that he no longer needed to be as stealthy as was the requirement on Earth, he needed to review his tactics. Because of the reputation he had built up on Earth amongst the demons and cultists with his earthen powers Harry had for the most part taken to only using very specific wand magic, tailored to very particular situations where his earth magic was not as useful or in the cases of dire need.

Without that reputation to keep up however, perhaps it was time for a few of the more, fun, spells that were gathering dust in his mental repertoire to come to the fore once more...

Time skip:

Persona: Nash'ala

The battle of Thistlefur camp, as it soon became known by the local Night Elf garrison, was one of the most brutal and devastatingly well organised attacks that Nash'ala had ever seen or heard about. After meeting the head shaman of the tribe and Harry agreeing to help deal with the corrupted leader of the Furbolgs, the group of four had headed in the direction the venerable Furbolg had directed them in, wary of further attacks and ambushes. Harry had gotten an evil looking smile on his face partway through the journey and Nash'ala had been sufficiently intimidated by the look that she hadn't dared ask him what had him so pleased.

They had walked for almost a mile through the foliage and thick boughs when Harry had raised his hand for them to stop, the almost-familiar uncomfortableness of another presence in her head letting Nash'ala know he was using his magical powers to use common once more.

"The camp is about 500 yards in front of us, luckily it is upwind of us here so the Furbolgs should not be able to smell us. Coira, can you go and check on what awaits us? I dare not use the earth to sense details in case another Furbolg like Vera can sense it and give away our position." The Blood elf nodded to the request and with a quick influx of mana she disappeared from sight, Harry's shifting gaze the only sign of where the Blood Elf was moving to. Whilst they waited for her return Nash'ala felt the pressure in her head drop away once more and looking over she noticed Harry beginning to meld something from the Earth in front of him, several something's in fact given by the spread of the slowly rising mounds.

"What is he doing Nash'ala? Is this some other form of Earth magic he has devised?" Kelanas moved across to her as the pair of them continued to watch the magic display in front of them. The Night Elf was surprisingly cordial with her considering their races pasts, but Nash'ala supposed the path of a priest was one of forgiveness and that she shouldn't question her good fortune.

"I have as little idea as you do Kelanas, probably something to help us fight the Furbolgs but otherwise your guess is as good as mine." Their mutual question was answered a moment later when a hand appeared to rip itself from the earth, a hand large enough to grab and lift Nash'ala in one hand with ease. With almost agonising slowness the creatures Harry was forming began to emerge from the earth, each unique and brilliantly formed with details that almost made them look lifelike.

The tallest of them stood at 16 feet tall, a massive bull headed titan that actually reminded Nash'ala of the few Tauren she had seen in her travels, the bulls head morphing into human features below the neck, twin axes in its shaped arms each as large as Kelanas. There was also a centaur, slightly bigger than those on Azeroth armed with a lance and shield, rearing up silently as its front legs emerged entirely from the earth. There were three of the golems that Harry had summoned in the Night Elf council chamber, but these were not the crude constructs she had seen there, standing at over 8 feet tall each of them had a variety of weapons attached to their body, as well as the diamond tipped spikes that riddled their armour in a way that reminded her of the puffer fish she had seen around her childhood home.

But none of them caught her eye as the last creature did, rising from the ground and spreading its wings in defiance of the earth that still imprisoned its forming lower limbs. It looked like a cross between an eagle and a horse, its features formed to such perfection that Nash'ala could see its chest rise and fall in an imitation of breathing that far surpassed anything the golems of Azeroth could manage. The creature's gaze darted over to hers and Nash'ala was shocked by the intensity behind those stony eyes, shocking her into inaction even as the creature began stalking over towards her. About ten feet from her it stopped and to her surprise it bowed to her, before straightening and fixing her with its imperious gaze.

" _You might want to bow back Nash'ala, hippogriffs are proud beasts and well, my manifestations are often based on memories, so there tends to be a bit of 'bleed over' as Hermione calls it."_ Given that the newly classified hippogriff was still glaring in her direction Nash'ala decided to follow Harry's advice, pulling a quick bow whilst telling Kelanas to do the same. After a few moments of bowing Nash'ala straightened, only to jump in shock as the hippogriff was suddenly in front of her, less than a yard from its beak touching her nose. As she recovered the Hippogriff jumped around in a circle in an obviously excited fashion before darting over to Harry who shook his head tiredly as he sat down on the ground, obviously tired out from the magic he had just expended.

" _Sorry about that Nash'ala, Buckbeak is, was a bit of a prankster at heart, I blame that on my godfather really. Don't worry he will behave now, come over and give him a pet."_ There was a wistfulness to Harry's voice as he spoke about this Buckbeak, Nash'ala could only assume that that particular hippogriff had been a friend of his back on Earth before the demons came. Given that Harry had said they all retreated underground after the invasion, Nash'ala couldn't imagine that such a magnificent creature would have been content with such confinement, preferring to go out fighting the enemy that was destroying it's world.

Nash'ala conveyed all of this to Kelanas, who started walking over to Harry, dragging a bottle of what Nash'ala recognised as mage water from inside her backpack. Handing it over, Harry took a drink without even asking what it was, noticeably perking up a few moments later as he looked down at the thing in amazement. Before they could stop him he guzzled down some more of it before sighing contentedly and standing once more, twirling his long magic wand round in his hand as he looked around eagerly.

" _Well that was a wonderful drink, Nash'ala we need to get a whole load more of this stuff. Now what else can I summon..."_ By the time Coira dropped back into the clearing there was a small horde of creatures waiting for her, ranging from a pack of venomous snakes that Harry seemed able to control at will to a half dozen earthen wolfmen that were gathered at the edge of the small clearing growling to each other. The look on the Blood Elf's face made it clear that she had found something important and terrible at the same time. Realising this Nash'ala called out to Harry who was resting against one of the larger trees, the man's eyes shooting open as she did so, waving his wand against his arm as the presence settled once more in Nash'ala's head.

"Coira, are you okay? What did you find in the camp." The questions by Harry seemed to break Coira from her shock as her eyes tracked the shaking head of the Minotaur that towered over her head, eyes moving to Harry even as she grasped the amulet around her neck and consumed a little more magic to calm herself down.

"The camp is where you said it was Harry, and if that weren't enough there are demons there right now, at least thirty minor satyrs and Felguard along with some cultists. They are overseeing the delivery of some prisoners the Furbolgs had, my people as well as some uncorrupted Furbolgs and Night Elves. I was going to say we needed to go get some more troops but well..." She gestured around a little incredulously and Kelanas gave a soft giggle from Nash'ala's left, the night elf having been allowed to mount Buckbeak after they had started patting the construct some ten minutes ago.

"Yes, you seem to be full of surprises Harry, though I think if we are going to save these captives the sooner we act the better, might as well attack both groups at once and deal as much damage as we can whilst Coira works on freeing the captives. I shall send for reinforcements from Astranaar, but I imagine by the time they get here there will not be much fighting left." With a quick chant a spectral owl appeared in front of her, flitting off quickly as Buckbeak's eyes followed it hungrily, aiming almost straight south of their position as it winged towards Astranaar. Harry pushed himself to a standing position before indicating in front of him, a small table with a sandbox rising quickly from the earth.

"Well there is no time to lose then, Coira show us the layout of the camp and then we can go from there." It didn't take long for a plan to emerge and be formalised, Nash'ala unfortunately relegated to the side-lines once more due to her lack of magical ability or skill with weapons. As such she took a prime spectators view point up one of the larger trees on the edge of the camp as the battle unfurled. It started with the serpents that Harry had summoned attacking, aiming mainly for the cultists amongst the enemies as they would be the most susceptible to their venom.

Whilst the enemies began to try and deal with the sudden serpent infestation on their hands, the thundering footfalls of the minotaur caused several of the Furbolgs to turn and face it as it emerged from the trees up towards their hilly village, the giant construct raising an axe in the Furbolgs direction in obvious challenge before kicking a giant hole in the gateway that stood in its way. Despite the Minotaur's superior size the Furbolgs didn't seem disheartened, almost twenty of them grouping together before charging forwards to engage their physically superior foe. What the Furbolgs couldn't know was that Harry had spent some time before the start of the attack casting his magic spells at the ground once more, a combination of explosions, gouts of fire and steam and a cloud of what Nash'ala had to assume was acid meant that by the time the Furbolgs had reached half the distance between them and the minotaur half of them were dead or badly wounded, the remainder falling back into the camp in obvious disarray.

The Minotaur then lowered its head, crossed its arms and then counter-charged the remaining Furbolgs, a deep roar echoing from its throat meaning that it had the entire camp's attention as it began its holding action, just as Harry and the others had planned. Nash'ala watched as prisoner after prisoner began to disappear from the ramshackle holding cells, the guards either distracted by the fight in front of them or dealt with silently by Harry and Coira. Seeing that the lead Felguard, who was larger than the rest by a considerable margin, was starting to give orders that looked like move out instructions, Nash'ala knew it was time for the second part of the plan.

Raising her bow, gifted to her by the Night Elves before she left Darnassus, Nash'ala summoned the small amount of magic she was able to into the arrow before losing it into the air, the special arrow tip igniting after five seconds in a burst of light that could be seen all around the camp. The signal instigated the charge of the remaining creatures and constructs from the North side of the camp, the new attackers catching the Furbolgs and demons off guard, the centaur lancing one of the Furbolg shamans before using the body as a missile by swiping the lance round, slamming the corpse into a pair of satyrs with bone breaking strength.

But by themselves the summons weren't going to be able to win the battle for them, especially when a guttural roar echoed from the centre of the camp, the largest Furbolg Nash'ala had ever seen emerging from the central hut before grabbing one of the wolfmen Harry had created and snapping it in half with one movement of its massive arms, black blood bursting from inside the corpse to cover the beast. Between it, the Felguard and the Furbolg shamans, the constructs were slowly losing numbers to the remaining enemies. The Minotaur went down under the weight of magic attacks by the Furbolg shamans and satyrs, the Felguard leader delivering the final blow with its massive cleaver to remove the bulls head from its shoulders.

Once all the constructs were down Nash'ala was surprised how effective the attack had been, barely a dozen Furbolgs left including their chieftain along with 10 Felguard and 7 or 8 satyrs. What the demons and Furbolgs also hadn't realised was that the black liquid that spurted from the wounds of the constructs had its own purpose for the assault, as Kelanas was about to prove. Looking up Nash'ala could see the priestess mounted on Buckbeak's back, hands in the traditional channel motion before white fire shot from the sky, the bolt impacting into the Furbolg chief's back and setting the oil he was covered in ablaze.

The fire spread quickly due to the number of corpses scattered around the camp as well as several pools Harry had been summoning in between rescuing the hostages, only a few of the Satyr's who had not been directly involved in combat escaping the punishing blaze. Nash'ala only hoped that Harry and Coira had gotten everyone out in time, the chance of anything surviving in that hell storm were very low to say the least, or so she thought until a towering figure burst from the fire in her direction, fur and flesh sizzling as the beast staggered painfully about, clawing at its eyes for a few moments before it gave up the futile action, instead sniffing around cautiously.

Nash'ala saw the earth spear moments before it buried itself in Dal's chest, Harry was obviously not taking any chances with this Furbolg as a second spear soon followed the first, bringing the beast down with a final cry. Nash'ala began her descent from the tree even as Harry appeared from under his magical cloak below her, looking over the firestorm in front of him with a slightly bashful expression on his face.

" _I didn't actually mean for there to be quite such a large fire, perhaps the oil in the Minotaur was a bit much."_ Nash'ala couldn't help the smile that crossed her face at his words even as he summoned a cane and walked up to the smouldering Furbolg, using the pointed end of the cane to jerk the bone charms from around the Furbolgs neck, the rope that had held them together long burnt up in the conflagration. With all the charms removed Harry cast another spell at them, water pouring from his wand to impact on the charms, steam quickly bursting from the contact of the hot charms. Though the constant dousing with water quickly cooled them enough that Harry could bend down and pick them up, wincing slightly at the contact with his hand, straightening up as yelling began to become audible from behind the treeline.

" _Nash'ala, could you go see what the problem is? I need to extinguish this before it spreads to become a full on forest fire."_ Nash'ala nodded, pleased that Harry trusted her enough to possibly sort the problem out without him being present, slithering off even as Harry began a chant of his own. The captives had been moved from their cells by a magical device called a 'portkey' by Harry, it worked in a similar manner to a hearthstone but could be made from any item and set to go to any point the caster had in mind. Moving quickly through the brush Nash'ala came across almost thirty Night Elf sentinels and Watchers arrayed in battle formation as the horde and Furbolg captives were stood warily across from them lead by what looked to be a Tauren druid who was stood defiantly yelling and braying at the assembled Night Elves despite his obviously underfed and gaunt state.

Kelanas and Coira were stood in the no man's land between the two sides, trying to calm their respective sides down without conflict breaking out between them, though they did not seem to be having much luck. With both sides on a knife edge, some of the blood elves having grabbed the Night Elf prisoners as hostages, the chances of this ending peacefully were decreasing by the second, meaning that she couldn't wait for Harry to come and take control of the situation. Trying her best to imagine that she was Harry with his power and presence, Nash'ala slithered forward from the foliage whilst speaking in her most authoritative voice.

"Enough, weapons down all of you! Blood Elves let the Night Elves go, we do not need a conflict amongst each other after that!" She gestured over her shoulder towards the camp, though the majority of the light and smoke seemed to have gone now, meaning that whatever Harry was doing was probably working. Nash'ala was surprised that the Night Elves didn't just shoot her on the spot, a couple of them definitely looked tempted, but she supposed that they had been given orders before being sent out. Her abrupt arrival seemed to have partially defused the situation, the Tauren calming down enough to catch his breath before calling over angrily.

"And what is to stop them killing us after we let their kind go snake? And what gives you the right to give us orders of any kind, your kind are not welcome here!" Nash'ala decided she really didn't like the Tauren but before she could retort a dagger cut through the air and put a light graze on one of the Tauren's arms, Coira's face angry as she readied another blade.

"She has the right because she was one of the one's that helped rescue your bovine behind and she is an ally of the Blood Elves of Quel'thalas, any insult you make against her you make against us cow." The Tauren was visibly seething but it was a question from the Night Elf side that coincided with the pressure of the translation charm appearing in her head once more that took Nash'ala's attention. The question came from the obvious leader of the Night Elf group, almost human skin coloured with long pink hair that enclosed her sharp face and piercing green eyes, mounted on a dark emerald Night Saber and with a large wolf stood warily at her side.

"I am Raene Wolfrunner, head sentinel of Astranaar and commander of the forces in Ashenvale. You mean to claim to me Naga that your group was the one that created the inferno that we could see from our homes almost two leagues away? What of the Furbolgs that are known to inhabit this area? They are known to be corrupted and hostile to any that are not affiliated with the demons." There was a sudden flash of movement before the head of Dal Bloodclaw landed in the middle of the two groups with a heavy thud, rolling over twice before coming to a stop facing Raene. Everyone turned in the direction of its arrival as Harry staggered from the trees, an irritable look on his face as he glared at all of those involved in the standoff, wiping the blade of the Sword of Gryffindor on a rag as he did so.

"Yes, we created the firestorm, the Furbolgs shouldn't be a problem for you anymore and yes I am tired and very irritable. So unless you listen to Nash'ala and put your weapons down right now, I am just as likely to do the same to you guys as I did to him." Whether it was Harry's blood covered appearance and grizzly trophy, his tone or simply the threat of annihilation that made everyone heed his words Nash'ala didn't know, but with the Night Elf captives released hopefully things would be a little easier from now on.

Little did the assembled groups know, they were being watched by another as they continued to talk and negotiate, one with decidedly less than stellar intentions for them. The undead rabbit watched it all with the intense focus of a machine, recording everything it saw to be reported back to its masters, deep in the ancient crypts below Ashenvale...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Another chapter done, woooo! I must say these things aren't as easy to right as they used to be, I am now trying to actually fit Harry's travels into the WoW universe with the help of my brother, who actually plays WoW. So Harry has now travelled into Ashenvale and has shown some more of his powers in an effort to remove some of the demons from the woods and thereby help heal the worst of the corruption in the area.
> 
> I like the idea of Harry being a good support character as well as just a close combat magical juggernaut as he is often portrayed in fic's, hence the constructs and serpents. What did people think of that fight scene by the way? Whilst not a proper battle, it showed several aspects of how Harry will have had to adapt his fighting style for the guerrilla like conditions on Earth. He doesn't fight fair if he doesn't have to and that is something I wanted to really get across here.
> 
> The construct of Buckbeak is something that just came to me as I was writing but I think it fits with the story quite well, certainly I can see Harry subconsciously enchanting the construct to act like the Buckbeak he remembers from better days. Perhaps there will be other constructs that he creates that will act similarly (Marauders perhaps?), but that is something to be considered another time.
> 
> Last thing before I stop babbling, Daphne. When I decided I wanted to involve her more in the story I wanted to make her different from the other Daphne's that have sprung up in fanfic's as she has become a popular character (I am certainly guilty of overusing her in my stories but meh). War changes people, especially those that experience the very worst of things that happens in it, and this is something I wanted to represent with Daphne. She has lost everything and everyone she cared about bar Tracey, been captured, tortured and interrogated for an unknown length of time and other horrors that I have yet to devise fully.
> 
> As such, she has created the front you see in this chapter, deliberately pushing everyone away in an attempt to keep herself from being hurt at their loss again. How Harry and the others are exceptions (though as you can see, exceptions are not necessarily better than the rule) will be explained in good time.
> 
> Right, that's it folks, please review away to let me know what you think, whether there is anywhere else in Ashenvale/Stonetalon Mountains that I can have fun writing about, so on and so forth. Hope you liked it.


	6. On the Winds of change

After the events at the Thistlefur camp things for Harry's small group had become a little hectic, but probably in a good way for all involved Harry thought as he followed Kelanas down the rocky path they were traversing through the Stonetalon mountains. After calming the two sides down with his admittedly rather brutal threat, Harry had then been forced to argue with the Raene Wolfrunner for some time before he was able to get her agreement to let the Blood Elves go, though that argument may have been helped along when over the course of their walk the pair ended up in the clearing that once contained the Thistlefur camp.

Harry had been forced to change the geography of the area somewhat in order to put out the fires he had inadvertently threatened the forest with, shifting the earth to create pressure on the water table below and causing it to shoot up and out in the form of a geyser. Rather than just let the water cascade down the hill the camp had been made on haphazardly, Harry formed a basin around the geyser after the fires had been extinguished, creating a pool that then fed into a moat around the base of the hill. This would make it easier for the Furbolgs to defend themselves in future as well as looking rather nice aesthetically.

Raene certainly seemed to appreciate his threat a little more when she realised that he had in effect reshaped the earth in order to achieve this result, which was good because the moment she agreed not to kill the horde prisoners Harry had collapsed. The next two days had consisted of Harry resting up in Astranaar before escorting the Horde prisoners back to their closest base, a Lumber camp run by large green skinned warriors called Orcs who had at first seemed more likely to tear Harry limb from limb as opposed to listen to him, making Harry wonder quite how many enemies the humans of this world had and what level of enmity there was to generate such a response.

Coira had managed to calm them down enough to explain the situation, though Harry had to stun one of them as he tried to take his head off with an axe for the second time. After that small display of power it was simple to get the guards to go get their commanding officer, who seemed a lot calmer and more controlled as he discussed things not only with Coira but Kelanas and Nash'ala as well. This Guardian Gurtar was clearly a powerful warrior and had many scars to show his experience in battle, though when he spoke with the Alliance representative, Raene having requested Kelanas act as the night elves representative during the exchange, there was no hate there that Harry would expect from such long standing rivals, merely a sense of martial superiority that the ork did not try all that hard to hide. Whatever had been agreed didn't really matter to Harry overly much, the fact that he had managed to help Coira and the night elves meant that the group could move south without further delay.

Coira had asked why they didn't just fly south to Theramore from Astranaar, given that would turn the 2 week long trip into something that would only take hours, but Harry had other plans for the journey that could not be accomplished from the back of a Hippogryph. Having looked at some of the maps of Azeroth in The night elf capital Harry had several ideas of where he wanted to create a base for his people, but he wanted a more public front to keep people from searching too hard, especially if they had less than pure intent for him or Earths survivors. After all it would not be much of a challenge to link the forward base with the actual one given that was what they had done with the vault

The areas towards Kalimdor's western shores seemed like an ideal location for this front base as the areas were relatively unpopulated by either side and contained several ruins that could easily be made highly defensible if required. The Stonetalons were certainly interesting as an area due to the fact that it bordered both horde and Alliance territory and much of the area was technically unclaimed, but the repeated warnings of Harpies in the area and their penchant for eating anything that came across their path very quickly put Harry off the area as a base, he would prefer it if his people weren't living in constant fear of the skies when they arrived. And that wasn't to mention the black dragons, elementals and other warring factions. That decision and the consensus that the harpies would be difficult if not impossible to negotiate with meant they had travelled South through the mountains to Harry's next planned destination, the region known as Desolace.

The others had been surprised by his interest in an area that had been reduced to a barren war zone by marauding centaurs and the various Legion outposts, but the fact that the Legion had been able to form up such a sizable force in the region meant that the land was almost certainly considered unimportant by the other races and therefore the arrival of the Earthen refugees in the area wouldn't cause too much discord. That was what he hoped at any rate as they traversed the downward slope of the last of the charred vale, an area of the mountain range that looked like it had been hit with a nuclear bomb. From there it was supposedly easy to pass into the desolate plains, Harry already had the location of a fort in the northern region of Desolace that was supposedly abandoned other than the occasional pack of bandits or monsters, such a location would allow him to set up the portal unit safely and allow some back up to finally arrive.

They had thankfully encountered minimal organised resistance passing through Stonetalon, mainly due to Harry's ability to sense approaching ground enemies from a great distance and to summon up cover with a wave of his hands. The elementals in the area had proved some trouble, though Coira and Kelanas seemed to be well versed in facing such foes and had been able to deal with those that were highly resistant to Harry's earth attacks. Nash'ala had been practicing with her bow at every opportunity since the Thistlefur camp attack and whilst it was not particularly useful against the elementals with their lack of physical form, should they be attacked by other creatures it was better than having her entirely defenceless. A sharp bird like cry from above to cause the four of them too swiftly ready their weapons as Harry finished this thought, making him wonder whether there was in fact a curse tied to his thoughts.

Looking up Harry picked out half a dozen harpies diving towards them against the stormy backdrop of the mountains, with obvious vicious intent in their eyes. Given what he had heard about the race Harry couldn't help but draw comparisons to Veela, certainly back in the middle ages when the Veela were feared by both muggle and magical alike, though the Harpies seemed to be a more restricted mammalian/avian hybrid in comparison to the Veela who had alternate forms that they could switch in between. Reaching out with his mind even as he drew the elder wand, Harry was surprised at the emotions that were pouring from the harpies.

The bird women were supposedly feral and simple minded creatures according to his companions, barely able to form the occasional word in common, but the depth and malevolence of the anger and fury that the harpies were emitting in droves was something that no mere animal could muster. But more than that, there were other emotions there that whilst less pronounced were in a state of constant flux as if trying to break through to the forefront. This revelation was enough to convince Harry of two possible thing. Either these creatures were more intelligent than many realised or there was some more malevolent force behind their hatred of all ground based creatures. Sighing as the curiosity he mentally named his 'inner Hermione' was aroused by the mystery, Harry decided that if he was going to work out the problem, he needed something to work on. Raising his wand, Harry channeled his magic and intent into the spell he wanted to cast whilst performing a complex wand movement to help control the spell.

" _Flumen!_ " Lightning burst from his wand and struck the two nearest harpies before they could think about dodging, the two falling from their dive into a freefall that showed that if not dead the spell had incapacitated them. A pair of _moblicorpus_ spells caught them before they could hit the ground, even after all this time as a warrior mage Harry prefered to avoid unnecessary death unless it had something to do with the legion. The remaining Harpies pulled out of their dives at his attack, obviously more wary now that he had revealed he was a magic user.

With a twang Nash'ala loosed an arrow only for the targeted harpy to bat it aside with one of her claws as Harry cast Flumen again, though this time the harpies were ready for it and dodged out of the way the moment he raised his wand, the lightning bolt shooting ineffectively into the side of the hill. Seeing Coira move in the direction of the fallen harpies whilst Kelanas let loose a spell of her own as the Harpies closed in once more, Harry called out after activating his rune to make his intention clear.

"Coira, no killing if you can avoid it, I want them alive." Coira threw him a confused and disbelieving look but Harry was already back to focusing on the approaching Harpies, though the flurry of spells from Kelanas and Nash'ala meant that he was not the sole focus of the Harpies anymore as they avian women dodged and dived in an attempt to close the difference

As he racked his brain to think of spells that were useful in this situation, Harry bought himself sometime with a wave of Earthen Shrapnel from the ground. As he watched the mass of missiles careen into the harpies, a piece the size of a crossbow bolt caught a Harpy in the left wing as other smaller pieces battered her body, causing her to lose control of her flight as the other Harpies soared away hurriedly from the battle they were obviously at a disadvantage with. With the threat from the other Harpies gone for the moment, Harry realised that the Harpy he had injured with the shrapnel had lost control entirely and was careening towards the ground in a way that if it didn't kill her would definitely put her in a state not far from it.

It took a moment for Harry to remember the wand motion for _arresto momentum_ , as he couldn't use _moblicorpus_ on a conscious target without either the targets consent or overcoming their magic. The Harpy's fall slowed to almost a complete stop, eliciting a cry from the creature which was obviously confused as to what was going on. It reoriented itself to land normally though it was clear that it would not be flying anywhere any time soon, eyes fixed on Harry fearfully as he approached, fury overcome by terror in the Harpy's mind at something he couldn't fathom, him killing her perhaps?

"LAND-STEALER, DIE!" Before he could think of how to subdue the Harpy without a further fight Coira appeared behind it and performed two quick blows that sent the creature to the floor unconscious, the Blood Elf looking at him with a calculating look as she checked that the Harpy was in fact unconscious.

"Harry, why did you not just kill these creatures? Did you not listen to anything we said? Everyone knows that Harpies are bloodthirsty creatures who would have you dead in a moment." As Coira spoke Harry realised he still had the bond with Nash'ala active, the drain on his magic having become almost second nature to him over the last couple of days. Seeing that the other two were looking at him with equal askance, Harry waved his wand to stun and then levitate the three Harpies so that they could talk and move at the same time.

"There is something about them that intrigues me, when we set up camp for the night I will explain things so do not worry about it for now. Besides, after my past, I prefer to make my own conclusions about things rather than just assume that what people say is true. I imagine you would prefer it if I made my own opinions about your people Coira as opposed to what the Night Elves have told me?" That was one thing that Harry had tried his hardest to keep regardless of the desperate situation on Earth, after all the preconceptions everyone had held about him both before and after the war with Voldemort he was determined not to become a similar sheep if he could avoid it.

His point seemed to forestall any further argument from Coira as Nash'ala came up to his side, the Naga seemingly a lot more at ease with his decision than the other two.

"I cannot argue with such a sentiment, especially when it probably is what has kept me alive after the Night Elves told you about my kind, but Harry are you sure we should be concerning ourselves with this now? What about your people?" Harry shrugged as he looked South towards the plains of Desolace.

"One of my... companions back on Earth would kill me if I simply slaughtered people whilst having doubts as to whether or not I could work something out with them, so I doubt I will get in trouble from them. And from what you have told me, this fort that we are aiming for is no more than a couple of hours from here. Assuming there are no difficulties in claiming and fortifying the place, we should be able to settle in properly before the Harpies awaken once more." Another advantage of the elder wand making his spells more powerful, stunning spells now could keep enemies unconscious for many hours now with little effort, even if they had innate magic resistance as most of the denizens of Azeroth seemed to have. Now if only he could ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach as he spoke about the fortress, then he would be more than happy with the situation...

Persona: ?, Harpy

When she awoke it felt like she had gorged on the Crone's medicines, mind slow and heavy as she tried to sit up, opening her eyes before she froze at the unfamiliar surroundings. Even as she groggily took in the stone walls that barred her freedom the events of before slowly returned to her, turning her panic and fury at being away from mother sky into fear. She was too young to remember the coming of the land stealers to their mountains, her mother laying her just before she followed the flock to war against both them and the burning ones. The majority of flock who went to war with their Queen never returned, leaving the young, the injured and the old to fend for themselves as more and more land stealers encroached upon their mountains. And as they came in greater numbers they fought her flock for territory, food and dominance.

By the time she was old enough to fight, her flock had been reduced to hiding amongst the desolate crags that once housed many times their numbers and hunting in small packs to avoid being attacked by land stealer patrols. Where once the flock descended in swarms to deal with any interlopers on their lands and took their tribute from those that travelled through the mountains, they now flitted in the shadows and peaks in an effort to gather enough food to survive the coming winter without losing any more of their sisters.

When she had spotted the small group on the hillside below, she had foolishly ignored her Queens instructions, fury at the ground walkers getting the best of her as she fell screaming into the assault. What should have been a battle however turned into a massacre as the tribute of the group turned out to be a magic wielder of all things, and a powerful one at that given the ease at which he had summoned mother sky's lightning and caused the earth to attack. Now she was captive, probably to the Lightning wielder, and her sisters probably dead or worse. Shaking her head to clear her still slow mind, she cast around the room for a way to escape as she sat up. A sharp pain caused her to look at her left wing, which had been covered in some kind of cloth and was bent in an odd shape.

Her wing was broken just below the join with her back, she realised with growing despair as her attempts to move it were quickly stopped by massive bursts of pain, and with it her chance to escape this place was gone as well. Even if she could find mother sky, she could not escape the ground like this and return to her flock, something the ground stealers undoubtedly knew which was why they hadn't chained her to one of the walls or the nest space. Standing up awkwardly from the surprising comfiness of the nest her captors had placed her in, she moved to the door, grabbing the metal ring with her uninjured claw and twisting it to try and open in the vain hope that her captors had forgotten.

The bolt shifted but the door would not move despite her best efforts, and the sounds of footsteps became audible as she continued to try the door, making her back away from the door rapidly. Given that the only thing in the room was the nest thing the only thing she might use to kill the land stealers was her claws and without the ability to fly she was at a definite disadvantage. The footsteps got louder and louder before coming to a stop, probably outside the door, and a moment later the door slid open without the ring moving at all to reveal her enemies.

As her eyes fixed upon the lightning wielder from before, who looked like he had been through a major battle with several fresh cuts on his face and his left arm in a sling, the fear of what would happen to her was washed away in the fury that fell on many of her kind when they saw the land stealers, all rational thought gone as she leapt across the room with uninjured claw stretched out to remove his face. Before she made it halfway the lightning wielder raised his hand and she lost control of her body, freezing in place as two more land stealers walked in behind the land walker and stood on either side of him as the water lizard moved behind him, the other land stealers in similar garb that implied they were also magic wielders of Father Earth.

They eyed her as she tried her utmost to move her limbs, anything to kill those who had taken her from Mother Sky, talking amongst themselves in a language that she didn't understand. The lightning wielder raised his hand once more and she couldn't help but close her eyes to avoid seeing death coming. Instead of her return to mother sky however, a wave of calmness washed over her and contained the fury that had controlled her to the back of her mind. With clearing thought she wondered why she had attacked such a dangerous enemy and why the lightning wielder hadn't killed her, dark thoughts of what the land stealers liked to do with captured sisters filling her mind as the Lightning wielder spoke at last in the land stealer tongue she could understand.

"I mean you no harm Harpy, but I am short of patience so I will only allow you to speak if you do so without wasting my time. Otherwise we will be forced to take what I need to know straight from your mind and I cannot promise that you will survive or even want to do so. Do you understand? Blink twice if you do." The calming effect the lightning wielder had put on her only seemed to counteract her anger and hate, fear bubbling back up at the thought of the land stealers destroying her mind and taking all her knowledge. Perhaps if she spoke she could minimise any threat to her flock.

Blinking twice she was slightly relieved when the Lightning wielder waved his hand once more and she found herself able to move, though she took a couple of steps back as the three talked amongst each other in their own language once more. Suddenly she couldn't wait any longer and the question burst from her lips with an angry undertone that she didn't actually intend given the rather threatening nature of the land stealers.

"Why save me Land stealer? Does the other land stealer and sea lizard not satisfy you? I will tell you nothing about my Queen or my flock and would prefer to die rather than be your slave." Her tone caused the female land stealer to flinch and ready her wand, but the Lightning wielder reached across as he looked at her tensed form with something akin to the look she had when she was very young and watched the actions of the land stealers, before she understood the true depths of their nature at least.

"I will ask you nothing of your sisters that might lead them to harm, though if they attack us I will not show them the same mercy twice. You have powerful magic enscrolled into your very being Harpy and it is controlling you more than you can possibly realise." The fury increased despite the magic the lightning wielder had cast upon her and for possibly the first time since she had been large enough to take to the air she realised how foreign some of the fury felt, as if something else was adding to it. Not that she would believe the word of a land stealer of course, they were known to be devious. The lightning wielder started speaking before she could truly understand her own thoughts and feelings on this supposed revelation.

"I understand that you would neither trust or believe one such as me about such a thing, but I am not a 'land stealer' as you call them from this world, so I would like to discuss with you things about you and your race rather than just rely on what the other land stealers have told me thus far. But first I would like to refer to you as something other than your race and I am certain I do not want to be called land stealer for something beyond my control. I am Harry Potter of the planet Earth, what would you like me to call you?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And so another piece of the weird and convoluted puzzle falls into place without much explanation, because that is the purpose of the next chapter of course. I have skipped through much of Ashenvale and Stonetalon mountains because honestly, that is what Harry would do once he had settled on Desolace as a staging area. Those who have played WoW probably know why Harry is injured, where they are and how some of the other Earthen survivors have made it through, feel free to mention theories and ideas in the reviews and I will see how close people are with what I actually have in mind. There is a substantial jump between the last of the Harry PoV and the new PoV, primarily because I wanted to introduce Harpies in at this point. I am sure there will be quite a few that disagree with the idea of me having the Earth survivors even trying to understand/negotiate with the Harpies as opposed to wiping them out as dangerous pests, but I like to be different :P
> 
> Next chapter, Desolace in all its bloody, gritty glory and a bit of an exploration into the background of Harpies, Veela and the events on Earth.
> 
> Defias Out!


	7. Theramore

Looking back on things now, it would have been a lot simpler to see this Lady Jaina Proudmoore if he had actually listened to the Coira and Kelanas when they had tried to get them to fly straight to Theramore from Ashenvale. Admittedly though the biggest issues they had encountered on their travel into the Northern part of Desolace had been as much down to Harry's hatred of the Burning Legion and his stubbornness to fight the demons wherever he found them, though with three prisoners in tow the party had been looking for somewhere to rest up regardless.

Why no-one had previously tried to clear the heap of rubble and dark metal previously called Thunder Axe Fortress bemused Harry to a certain extent, even as his injured arm twinged at some slight movement he had made and he shifted the sling a little uncomfortably. There had been several dicey moments as he and the others stormed the fort, Harry's broken arm being one of the more severe outcomes of the admittedly reckless assault, but any serious military or mercenary force would have been able to sweep the place clear very quickly given the poor leadership of the cultists who inhabited the place.

Perhaps it was merely that no-one _wanted_ a staging area here, after all Harry had to admit that Desolace was very aptly named, his attention shifting across the open ground sparsely populated with plants and the odd tree. And if the scenery was not enough of a deterrent, the denizens of this section of Azeroth definitely would be enough to put off all but the most determined adventurers.

Stood on top of the repaired gatehouse, the first area he had worked on after taking the fortress, Harry could see a large number of centaurs in the distance, easily two or three hundred of them amassing as they seemed to do regularly for fights or raids. The fact that this world's centaurs were little more than marauders and raiders made Harry almost miss the centaurs of his world, their pontificating and deliberate vagueness aside.

The centaurs had attacked twice in the time since they had taken the fortress and if it weren't for their infighting and backstabbing then Harry suspected that number might have been significantly higher and a much greater danger to him and those that were gathered within. As if on cue there was a burst of flame from within the massed centaur horde and what might have become the third attack devolved rapidly into a messy melee between at least three separate factions, though at this distance it could easily have been more.

The sound of footsteps behind him surprised him slightly, he had his empathic abilities undampened so he should have felt something before he had heard them, but listening to the light click of a walking stick and the measured time between steps Harry knew why he hadn't even as the approaching person spoke.

"Two more squads have come through the demon portal you managed to clear and isolate in the caverns beneath this place; they have joined Alpha Force in reinforcing the outer walls and rear gate. According to Ms Boot the gate will not survive anymore attempts for us to portal our people through so I had it destroyed." Harry sighed as he turned to face Blaise Zabini, the man who had fought the political battles for his strike force so that Harry didn't 'cause offence to every wizard this side of the Russian border.'

Despite the fact that they had fought together for seven years against everything from dark wizards to Pit Lords, Harry couldn't bring himself to like the man who was in so many ways his anti-thesis. Tall, charismatic and handsome almost to the point of being effeminate, Blaise reminded him a little too much of Lucius Malfoy in how he acted for Harry to be entirely comfortable around him, ignoring the fact that both of them knew that Blaise could figuratively run circles round Harry if they ever did get into a serious argument.

Thankfully for both his sanity and the survivors on Earth, Blaise had been content for the most part to let Harry lead the survivors whilst he settled into a more advisory/diplomatic role, though Harry could tell (and secretly enjoyed) sensing the frustration that Blaise felt when Harry failed to understand the more subtle machinations of political conflict.

Blaise was hiding the discomfort of having climbed the four sets of stairs that led to where Harry was standing very well given his crippled leg, a memento from a Felhound in the initial stages of the Burning Legion's invasion, but the man's gaze made it very clear that Harry could have picked a more convenient location to take watch upon.

"Lady Bones has been working with your 'guests', though without the calming spells that you have cast on them I doubt we would have gotten anything more than threats and screeching. The two older harpies seem to be too distrustful of us for us to work with them in the near future, but the youngest one might yet yield results."

The monotone manner in which Blaise discussed things was another tactic the man used, the lack of emotional inference meant that whoever he was talking with had no verbal cues to use in gauging his mood, keeping them on the back foot in a much better way than Lucius' drawling sarcasm ever did. Now he was focussing on the young dark-skinned ally/annoyance, Harry could discern only the slightest hints of hope and irritation from the man, which given Blaise's self given mission to be unreadable to Harry meant he was truly experiencing a huge amount of emotional upheaval at seeing this new world.

Whilst some of Alpha force had like Coira questioned Harry's decision regarding the avian females, especially given the lack of manpower the phantom's currently had available for things like guard duty, both Blaise and Susan had been quick to side with him on the matter and step in to carry on their investigation when it became clear that Harry's presence had a negative impact on the Harpies. The threat of him had made the youngest more pliable during Susan's initial discussion after his introduction to her, so that was something at least.

"In which case, I will make ready to leave for the Alliance outpost in the northernmost region of this desert once Kelanas and the others are rested." Blaise regarded him in the same deadpan manner he always used to make it clear that he was either waiting for Harry to say more or realise he had missed something, but Harry merely raised his good hand and waved him off.

"I know what you are going to say Blaise but it would be best if I be the one to go, whilst Susan is using that translation charm that Hermione found to make the Harpy understand her when she is talking to her, it is not a suitable spell for use in the wider world or for use when talking to more than one person. And even ignoring the lack of manpower we have available, I am the only one capable of truly defending myself and our guides out there, no offence but the locals are a bit more prone to use swords to settle their arguments than you would like Blaise."

And that was if some of them would actually let them get as far as talking, certainly the centaurs here had shown no signs of any willingness to even try and discuss things with those not of their race. Harry knew that Blaise wouldn't like the obvious reference to his physical inability but the man couldn't dispute the point and in the end sighed, running his hand through his well-kept hair before nodding.

"Fine, though please try and keep your usual levels of aggravating people in power to a minimum, at least until you can portkey me or one of the others there to stop you. Now come, I need you to show me what happened in this meeting of yours with the Night Elves, I want to know what I am up against before I travel there as an official ambassador." Without waiting for confirmation Blaise turned and started back down the stairs, having refused to simply apparate everywhere despite his injury as it was a 'sign of complacency and weakness.'

Conjuring his patronus up to send a message to the Alpha force team leader, Harry spoke quickly to it before apparating to the area that they had begun refurbishing to make into a war room of sorts, complete with several enchanted items that would make running things here that little bit easier. Knowing he had a couple of minutes before Blaise managed to navigate the stairs and corridors that made up the fortress, Harry chuckled to himself as some ideas began to form in his mind.

*Line Break*

The memories of Blaise covered in garish rainbow coloured paint that would have made Dumbledore proud made Harry smile, though looking around Theramore was doing well enough at that for it not be necessary. The bustling city was livelier than his brief experience of Auberdine or Darnassus, people of different Alliance races interacting in a friendly manner that you would never have seen on Earth.

Nash'ala's presence still drew a lot of looks from the crowds as the half a dozen footmen escorted their small group towards the central castle, but it was mostly curiosity as opposed to any kind of hostility. Harry and his group had been stopped by patrols hours before they had reached Theramore itself after their gryphon mounts had flown them into Sentry Point to the North of the city. And though it seemed Tyrande had sent word ahead of the 'uniqueness' of his party, whoever was in charge of the cities military wanted to take no chances and they had been forced to wait for their escort to arrive before they could move closer to the city.

As they approached the castle's main gate Harry's magic senses suddenly registered the arrival of a person of terrifying magical potential, the whirling mass of magic surrounding the cloaked woman at the far end of the bridge being the obvious suspect. As he focussed on the tall blonde haired woman, he heard Coira gasp slightly off to his left before out of the corner of his eye he saw her take to a knee, swiftly followed by Kelanas in the same signs of respect he had seen the Night Elves give Tyrande.

Whilst he refused to go to the same level, Harry bowed low as the sorceress he could only assume was the Lady Proudmoore he was meant to be meeting with, though as he kept his eyes fixed on her he saw her grin widen ever so slightly. Activating the translation spell as she opened her mouth, Harry did his best to keep his face from showing any of his usual emotional tells that the woman might try and take advantage of.

"Welcome to Theramore travellers, I must admit it has been some time since I have seen such a diverse group, not since the threat of Archimonde in fact." She bowed slightly before gesturing to Kelanas and Coira impatiently. "I am Jaina Proudmoore, leader of Theramore and the only person stubborn enough to try and keep the Alliance and Horde from exchanging heated words for swords and blood. I ask that you stand please, I am not one for ceremony if I can avoid it, and certainly not when there are off-worlders that I need to make a first impression to."

Jaina was certainly a woman who spoke her mind and was not afraid to make light of potentially delicate situations, as long as this wasn't a front designed to put him off-guard Harry could respect that, certainly it would make the woman easier to work with. Jaina then looked round at the guards who had been escorting them and a small frown crossed her face, though it was only there for a moment before she turned to the lead guardsman.

"Thank you for your services guardsmen, I will ensure that Colonel Lorena knows of your dedication to duty but I ask next time that your focus should be maintaining our borders and protecting our citizens rather than escorting guests, whatever orders you may have received otherwise." Harry couldn't help the smile that crossed his face as the guardsmen looked both pleased and sheepish at the subtle rebuke/compliment, the sergeant giving fall out orders quickly as Jaina half turned and gestured up to the castle itself.

"Please, this way if you would, I would prefer to make proper introductions in a more relaxed environment even if it is a beautiful day, also from the missive Lady Tyrande sent me your tale is not a short one so I would wish you fed and watered before imposing such a retelling upon you." As they walked up the winding steps that led to the main Citadel gate, created with obvious defensive intent in mind, Harry was surprised by how short Jaina actually was, the sorceress barely coming to his shoulder as they walked side by side.

But as she dismissed the tall and stocky Captain waiting by the citadel gate who was highly disapproving of the presence of Nash'ala and Coira with a single terse order and a look Harry was reminded that size didn't always mean power. As they stepped through into the keep courtyard a shout preempted the approach of what Harry at first thought was a child towards Jaina, only for that to be dismissed when the approaching figure saw Nash'ala and stumbled to a stop in a ready stance, a burst of magic dragging the water from the fountain in the centre into a hulking humanoid figure behind her.

Luckily Jaina held her hand up and stood between what Harry now recognised as a gnome from what the others in the group had told him, though what was said was something he would have to ask Nash'ala later as he had turned the translation spell off to conserve both his magic and Nash'ala's headaches until they were actually necessary.

Though Harry could still feel the gnome's mistrust towards him and the others her respect for Jaina seemed to outweigh that and the gnome dismissed the water elemental with a wave of her staff, before falling into step alongside Jaina and unloading a barrage of questions in a manner that reminded him quite a bit of Hermione. Given the look that Jaina gave him at least some of the questions were directed at him, so with a small sigh of exasperation Harry activated the translation spell once more to speak.

"Apologies Lady Jaina, I do not speak the language of your world naturally, it is only by the use of my magic I can speak for a short time with the help of my advisor Nash'ala here. So therefore I will be relying on her to translate for me what is said into a language I can understand, but given the distrust of the Naga that the young lady just showed I would prefer if we did this in a more private setting?"

Jaina now looked genuinely interested in him for the first time and Harry could tell that the idea of this kind of magical knowledge was the kind of thing that was her true passion as opposed to running a city or being a diplomatic leader for the Alliance, something that was similarly mirrored in the expression of the gnome that he could only assume was her apprentice of sorts given the deference the gnome seemed to express.

Even though he was in for an exhaustive night of explanations and questioning ahead, Harry was determined to look on the bright side of matters, perhaps he might be able to answer a few questions of his own...

*Line Break*

After three days of meetings with Jaina and other members of Theramore's leading council, Harry being forced to summon Blaise on the second day to intercede as well as to give him and Nash'ala a break, the pair of Terrans (the title Jaina had insisted they use if they wanted to avoid any more associations with Azeroth's humans) had managed to work out several agreements that would hopefully prove vastly beneficial to both sides.

In return for hiring several dozen craftsmen of various professions in Theramore to come and truly fortify Thunder Axe fortress, as well as Theramore's recognition for the Terran's political independence (a clause that Blaise had been very insistent about given what he had heard about the supposed sovereignty of various kings over the different human lands and humanity in general), the two sides had agreed to a full alliance between them as well as trading rights that would be worked out fully when the Terran's had fully evacuated from Earth.

In addition Harry had agreed to help with several problems that the people of Theramore were struggling with, starting with offering his services as a bodyguard for Jaina as she travelled to the orc capital Durotar to discuss with the orc leader about a spree of attacks between Theramore's forces and the forces of the Horde.

Whilst he would not be much use for the discussion itself, Jaina wanted to use the opportunity for him to establish ties with the Horde leadership in addition to what he had been doing with the Night Elves and herself. The fact that she also thought she might need back up in the case of tensions reaching breaking point wasn't mentioned verbally, but the point of asking Harry to accompany her rather than the more diplomatic Blaise was rather telling.

They would leave via zeppelin tomorrow, with Coira returning via hearthstone on the second day of negotiations, to both update her own people with what had been going on but also to ask if Harry could meet this Regent Lor'themar in person at some stage when the man had time. Harry hadn't been presumptuous enough to just assume he could travel to Silvermoon straight from Durotar and expect to see the Blood Elf leader when it suited him, something he could see Coira had approved of even as she bid him farewell, pockets full of transfigured talisman's to sate her own magical thirst as well as to present as gifts from Harry to her people.

His work in attempting to smooth the transition of his people into this world without being viewed as another set of invaders done for the day, Harry had portkeyed back to Thunder Axe fortress, hurrying through the halls of the now defensible fortress as he focussed on the magical signature of one of the people who meant more to him than anything else. He found her in one of the rooms that had been repurposed into a bed chamber, though it primarily it only contained a transfigured bed and a couple of cupboards at this point in time, Susan barely having time to note his entrance before he swept her into his arms.

Whether it was due to his rather... lacking childhood or the difficulties of his school years, Harry had always been very effusive with his affections towards Ginny, especially when his task force meant that he was required to spend significant time away from home. When Ginny had informed him of her intentions regarding Susan, Daphne and Hermione, Harry had initially thought that this was her attempt to push him away and that his displays of affection had come to irritate her to the point she was trying to subtly leave him by guiding him towards others.

That twisted logic had earned him Ginny's ire when he had been stupid enough to voice it, and since then Harry had done his best to work with the other girls and to develop a proper relationship with them rather than just a one sided case of their need for companionship and also to eventually rebuild their numbers.

Susan had been the easiest for him to fall in love with as he had with Ginny, the kind and helpful girl definitely didn't aggravate him to the point of frustration as Daphne was prone to do whenever she was feeling sadistically playful, and there wasn't the occasional awkward moment that arose between him and Hermione whenever either of them were reminded of Ron.

Certainly Susan was also the most open with returning his love as her arms wrapped around his waist and her lips met his in a sweet and light kiss that still conveyed many of the emotions that Harry could feel passing through her mind. The two spent an hour together without speaking, simply cuddling up to each other and enjoying the others presence for the first time since Harry had left Earth.

Finally Susan broke the silence, the young woman sighing before speaking business, something that she was more prone to do in their alone time than the others but that was because like Blaise she preferred to cover things in detail and ensure that Harry was the best prepared for whatever situation he might find himself in.

"I have let the two elder harpies go, with a message to their Queen that we wish to meet with her and negotiate a non-aggression pact, with the youngest harpy being our bargaining chip against any attack or ambush they try and set up. Your initial guess wasn't actually as far off as you might think Harry, the harpies and the Veela have some similarities from what Ellen and I have been able to deduce, though the magic influencing the Harpies is far more... unrefined."

Harry chuckled as he could tell Susan had done her best to avoid using the word 'messy' regarding the Harpies curse, Susan had always done her best to sound dignified and intellectual when she spoke, something he now knew was her attempt to make up for not being able to match Hermione or some of the other survivors intellectually. Even as she glared at him for chuckling Harry gave her a quick kiss to the forehead before replying, causing her to blush and grin.

"And I imagine Hermione has already set a team aside to look into either a cure or a mitigating spell we can use to minimise the Harpies hostility without making them docile to the point of making them easy targets for slavers or people nursing grudges?" His own summation of Hermione's predictable actions made Susan giggle slightly.

"Yes, Hermione surmised that the magic is linked to their transformations and trying to prevent the rage curse might be very damaging to their magic all together, so she has a plan for a self-sustaining calming spell that would mitigate the most extreme of their emotions. But Daphne and I reined her in and got her to continue focussing on the construction of the portal for us to bring the rest of our people through, the sooner the better before we lose any more to the demons on Earth. Speaking of our establishment here, how were your discussions with this lady Proudmoore? From what the others could tell me before you left she is quite the interesting personality..."

Harry smiled and shook his head at Susan's rather forward insinuation, the red headed woman had made it very clear from the start of their 'relationship' that whilst Harry would be the only man she took to her bed, an stipulation of Ginny's before they had even got to the stage of mentioning it to him, she held a healthy interest in those of her own sex as well. None of the others had yet shown any kind of similar interest, but Harry had never been one to judge people given his own past.

"She is a rather striking woman, quite beautiful as well, though I think she is more interested in me than she would be in you I am afraid Susan, though I imagine you will find more than enough on this planet to keep you interested if you do ever finally get bored of me." He had meant it as a joke but as Susan met him in another kiss before mock glaring at him pushing him back onto the bed with a playful growl.

"The only way I will get bored of you Harry is if you keep bringing females back from your adventures and forget about me, so it would be best for both of us if I reminded you of exactly why you should keep me around..."

As she began to unbutton the top that was so form fitting to her cleavage that there had in fact been one or two complaints from other survivors that she was being a bad role model for the children, Harry decided that returning to Thunder Axe for the night rather than grabbing a room in Theramore had definitely been a good idea...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, more of Earth's refugees have arrived and they have a base of operations, even if that base is in Desolace and the Centaurs are definitely not the biggest problem they are going to have there.
> 
> The introduction of Blaise is very important in terms of the plot of this story, as it makes it very clear that Harry and his 'friends' are not the only people amongst the phantoms to have power politically, but it also means that Harry will be able to be a leader and emissary for his people rather than a ruler, which is very important in allowing him to actually promote change in Azeroth.
> 
> Jaina to me has always been a leader because she has to be, rather than because that is what she wants and to be honest with the support of a friendly faction in Kalimdor that can support her own forces, I was tempted to have her accompany Harry once he has his people settled and starts actually putting the world to rights. Her ideals for peace and burying the hatchet between the Horde and the Alliance should align with Harry quite nicely. What are people's thoughts?
> 
> In terms of a timeline, as people have been asking this on and off for quite some time, I am enjoying the WOW book cycle of hatred at this point and I think having Harry appearing in this stage of the storyline would be quite interesting. So as far as I am aware this is very early Burning Crusade? Please correct me if I am wrong and I can amend future plot from there.
> 
> Finally, a bit of an expansion on Harry and the girls, I wanted to make clear that whilst they have a 'relationship' that relationship is very different between each girl and Harry. Susan and Harry are in a fairly open relationship and to be honest, with the collapse of society back on Earth, not many people are going to judge Susan for her bi-sexual tendencies. But for the most part, that last paragraph or so notwithstanding, their relationship will not be SEX, SEX, SEX, or at least it will not be a big part of it.
> 
> Sorry if people wanted a lemon, I haven't tried to write one and I don't particularly ruin this chapter with a bad lemon.
> 
> Review please!


	8. Meeting of the Council

Compared to the structured and well laid out streets of Theramore, Orgrimmar had very clearly been not so much planned as sprawled across the foothills of the Durotar Mountains. Coming into land from zeppelin that Jaina seemed to have for just these kind of visits, Harry had been surprised to see not only the walls and towers that seemed common in Azeroth cities but farmland as well.

Given the mythos on Earth regarding Orcs Harry had imagined things to be a lot more primitive and basic in their culture and society. Their nature was similar to how he had imagined it based on the little interaction he had had with them so far, he had been forced to sink a few Orcs into the ground when they had rushed at him and Nash'ala after they had stepped off the zeppelin. Much to the amusement of the attacker's more genial companions and his unhelpful mission target herself.

Jaina had managed to restrain herself to a shake her head and a small smile but Harry could tell that his plight was definitely one of the more amusing sights she had seen in some time, her appearance at the bottom of the zeppelin ramp only coming when several of the Orc guards had been drawn to the area and approaching Harry with weapons in hand.

At the sight of her the Orcs had come to a stop, thankfully for Harry as the Orcs he had restrained had been much stronger than he had anticipated and if he had been forced to continue his defensive he would have been in trouble. That was not to say the glares aimed at him and Nash'ala disappeared as they travelled through an area called the Valley of Wisdom, even the strange blue tusked creatures that made up a good portion of the population were very hostile towards Nash'ala.

He would have to ask about it later, but for now he was forced to pay attention to his surroundings a bit more, the crowd gathering ahead in greater numbers, a raised dais above them behind which lay a large building that was obviously the seat of power in this place. The crowd quieted as the three of them approached, Harry's hand never leaving the sword at his side, the crowd parting before him uneasily as he got within 5 feet of them.

On top of the dais there stood a large Orc in plate armour and wielding a giant axe that was bigger than Harry and probably weighed twice as much. The Orc was sneering at them and pointed down at Harry with his free hand, causing Harry to quickly activate the translation rune just in case what was said might be important.

"Your kind are not welcome here anymore dog, Orc blood is on you and your cowardly marines hands!" There was a general call of agreement from the gathered Orcs and Blue skinned warriors, several pounding on shields in a threatening manner. Looking over to Jaina in case they needed to make a quick exit, Harry saw her look more than a little irritated, gesturing around at the crowd before speaking to the Orc on the Dais.

"And yet you need to gather a hundred Orcs and Trolls together in order to confront two cowardly humans Garrosh? Your ancestors must be so proud of your courage..." Ouch, that was probably not the best tone to use when surrounded by a lot of angry warriors. Harry was proved wrong a moment later though, when laughter could be heard from behind Garrosh, the axe wielding Orc a cross between enraged and embarrassed as the laughter spread to others in the crowd.

The source of the laughter was made obvious a moment later as another Orc strode from the large building, followed by a dozen Orcs equipped with some of the best armour Harry had ever seen. The angry shouts that had followed Jaina's mocking comment silenced at the new Orc's arrival and judging by the deference even Garrosh gave the new Orc, Harry had to assumed this was Thrall Doomhammer.

"I am sure that Garrosh did not in fact intend for this crowd to be here when he confronted you Lady Proudmoore, it must simply be a coincidence that so many of my people were here when you arrived and got caught up in his emotional and rash state, which is understandable given the losses my captains have suffered at the hands of these pirates." Thrall, Harry realised in that moment, was a more skilled leader than he could ever hope to be, the Orc using one sentence to admonish, apologise and diffuse a potentially violent situation without seeming to be on any particular side or opinion as he did so.

Sensing a subtle order to disperse the crowd quickly began to break up under the watchful eyes of the guards Thrall had brought with him, the Warchief simply raising a hand as Garrosh began to speak once more and silencing him with a hard look.

"You are not Warchief Garrosh, you do not stand on this Dais and issue statements like that to one of our long time allies. Especially given that she has come here without protest, or a thousand bodyguards, not something a guilty party would do given our old hatreds." Given the change in tone, it sounded like this was not the first time this Garrosh had done something like this, though he didn't look repentant in the slightest. Garrosh stormed off a moment later with two guards, who were obviously there to make sure he didn't try and come back.

"Lady Proudmoore, welcome to Orgrimmar, I apologise for not meeting you at the Zeppelin hangar but you are earlier than expected. The other leaders are inside discussing matters related to the Horde and the threats that are arrayed against us and were meant to have left before you arrived. I have made it clear to them that you are no mindless servant of the Alliance, at least in the manner they are insinuating. But perhaps it would be best if you were to meet them in person." The welcome was honest, as was the apology, but Harry's senses screamed to him that Thrall was not being entirely truthful about the part about the other leaders.

Whether this was a ploy to be able to talk from a further position of strength surrounded by his allies, or instead an attempt to plant the seeds of friendship between Theramore and the rest of the Horde Harry didn't know. Giving a cough that caused both leader's to look over towards him, Harry weighed up whether being subtle would be a good idea, but in the end he decided to follow Jaina's lead.

"I apologise Warchief, but I think there is more going on here than us being early..." Having told Jaina about his ability to sense emotions, something he felt important to be truthful from the start about given the alliance he was forming with her, his statement let her know that he had sensed something off rather than just guessing.

The sorceress turned to Thrall with a questioning gaze, hand on hip in an obvious waiting stance, the Orc looking at Harry with interest and respect before laughing once more and raising his hands in a placating manner.

"I like your new bodyguard Jaina, he is certainly a lot sharper than most of the idiots that we have to put up with. Yes, there is a little more going on than I let on but I kept my peace at the request of someone else who wished to surprise you. I promise you there is no ill intent meant by this particular secret." Jaina gave Harry another glance to affirm Thrall was telling the truth, something Harry knew that Thrall had caught, even as he nodded that Thrall had been honest.

With that settled the Warchief lead them into the tall building that seemed to serve as the administrative centre of Orgrimmar as well as the quarters for the heavily armed Orcs that now numbered in their dozens if not hundreds. As they went further back into the heart of the building Harry could now pick out 4 distinctly powerful signatures ahead of them, each of them smaller than Thrall and Jaina in terms of power but still more powerful than nearly everyone Harry had encountered before.

These had to be the other leaders of the Horde, and Harry was worried that one of them had a very dark magical signature about them, almost as dark as those of the dementors or the Void Demons he had face on Earth. Jaina and Thrall seemed completely at ease at each other despite Harry's mistrust, the two talking about trivial matters before they reached the large pair of double doors which the other magical signatures were behind.

As the doors opened Jaina's poker face returned with an ease that Harry felt slightly jealous of, her eyes casting around the room for a moment before lighting up as they fell on one of the figures sat at the semi-circular table in front of them. Nash'ala spoke to him, Harry having deactivated the rune to conserve magic and to try and make the very nervous Naga a little more comfortable.

" _These are the leaders of the Horde Jaina and her advisors were telling us about Harry, though I did not know the Blood Elves had joined with the Horde as Coira hadn't mentioned anything about it last time we saw her."_ The Blood Elf at the table was smiling warmly as the three of them approached, bowing his head at Jaina who smiled happily back before speaking, Nash'ala providing a commentary of what was going on much to the interest of the other Horde leaders.

" _Jaina is saying how surprising it is to see Regent Loth'mar, the head of the Blood Elf forces on Azeroth whilst Prince Kael'thas is leading his expedition in Outland, here. The Regent replied that he was here to strengthen the non-aggression pact that he had with the Horde leaders and the Forsaken in particular..."_

As Nash'ala talked Harry was only half listening, he got the gist of it and he was far more concerned with the undead woman who was sat on the far left hand side of the table, her dead gaze not having left his for a moment. He had been told about the Forsaken, their short history and current condition, but that didn't make the resemblance to the zombies that the Burning Legion had raised on Earth any easier to ignore.

It was taking a surprising amount of willpower not to draw his wand defensively, only the fact that he could not feel any threatening emotions from her calming him a little, all he could sense was scorn and... curiosity. It was then that Harry noticed the rest of the room had quietened, everyone watching him as Nash'ala repeated a question that he had missed in his conflicted state.

" _Harry, Thrall asked why I was talking to you like this and looking at Lady Sylvanas like that, how would you like me to reply?"_ Flushing slightly at having been caught staring, even if it wasn't for the reasons that most of the people there probably thought it was, Harry decided it would be best to remove the middle woman as it were, at least initially at any rate.

So drawing on his magic to activate the rune again, he noted every single person present stiffen slightly as he did so, obviously more attuned to magic than most.

"I apologise to Lady Windrunner for staring, I have some bad experiences and it took me a few seconds to bury them, I won't let it happen again." He didn't make any inference to her undead state or that it was her unlife that was what had brought the memories to the fore, something he had been told in advance was a touchy subject for most of the Forsaken and Sylvanas in particular.

"The reason why Nash'ala is speaking to me in her native tongue as opposed to common is also the reason why Lady Proudmoore asked me to be her bodyguard for this diplomatic mission. I suppose I should begin by introducing myself properly. I am Lord Harry Potter of the Terran people..."

*Time Skip*

After his introduction and quick explaination regarding his people's origins, Harry had cancelled the magic to the translation rune, allowing Nash'ala to take over the speaking part once more. Regent Loth'mar had been quick to back his story, probably based on the reports from Coria and the other survivors from Ashenvale and that definitely helped smooth things over with the other leaders.

" _What Lord Harry says is true, he has worked with one of my people and aided her in freeing some of my warriors from the Burning Legion's forces in Ashenvale."_ Harry had worked with Nash'ala so that she would for the most part simply translate what people said word for word rather than trying to summarise and specify who said what.

Whilst he was grateful for her efforts to make things easier for him, Harry found that he could judge people's moods and truthfulness better without the compression. It only fell down when multiple people were talking in quick succession, but that was why he was working hard to actually try and learn common so that Nash'ala didn't need to keep going through this. Then Cairne, the ancient Tauren leader who seemed to command the respect of the others through his wisdom rather than his strength despite his terrifying size, spoke up after a moment's quiet.

" _So you are the one who saved Druid Snowhoof, I should have made the connection given your travelling companion, as few associate with the Naga by choice."_ The Tauren spoke with the kind of tone that meant Nash'ala didn't even react to his comments about her race, after all she was one of the most ardent advocates against her people's plan.

" _Though the description of 'the sea witch and her blood demon possessed companion' are not what I would call the most accurate of descriptions. Having received the reports from Thrall's men I personally had a discussion with Ruul to make sure he knew exactly where I disagreed with his actions and words."_ There was obvious signs of restrained amusement from around the table at this statement and Harry got the feeling that this Druid Snowhoof, who he assumed was the Tauren they had encountered in Ashenvale, had not enjoyed the 'discussion' at all.

" _What incident be this Chieftain Cairne, I not be doubting the human's strength given what the spirits be telling me, but I think you best be explaining for the rest of us..."_ Even as Harry threw Nash'ala a slightly amused and questioning look at the sudden change in speech and grammar, Nash'ala grinned cheekily and spoke quickly before Lady Sylvanas spoke up herself.

" _You be telling me to translate directly mon, so that be what I be doing. And Lady Sylvanas asks that whatever the incident is we would be best going over it briefly, as she has to return to the Undercity. Despite her words, I think she is more interested in you than she lets on Harry. Shall I tell them or do you want to and I translate?"_ The jump between tones would probably start to irritate him if she kept it up for the long term, but Harry found it amusing more than anything else as he nodded for her to explain the incident in Ashenvale.

Nash'ala was right of course, despite not showing it in her body language or facial expressions Sylvanas' emotions were a mix of suspicion and interest behind the wall of prideful disdain she seemed to emit to everyone, and given her gaze never left him it was doubtful those emotions were aimed at anyone else. The suspicion faded as Nash'ala spoke of what must have been a very summarised battle and towards the end of it there was a mixture of respect and interest in the Forsaken leader's eyes as she spoke up, Nash'ala listening for a moment before relaying it to him.

" _Sylvanas wishes to know about these portkeys that you used, primarily her question was are they a form of advanced hearthstone and what are their limitations? I know from the little you have told me that they are an entirely different type of magic but I don't know what you want me to tell her. This is obviously because she is worried the anti-hearthstone wards in place at places like here will not work against portkeys..."_ A valid security concern and one Harry realised he would have to consider for the Terrans, after all if portkeys might be able to bypass hearthstone wards the same could also occur in the opposite case.

" _Be honest Nash'ala, I think letting them know it is a different type of magic is not a major concern and any further questions they have I can answer them if they aren't too intrusive. And about the wards I have no idea, we would have to do some tests to make sure there aren't any adverse effects."_ Nash'ala nodded, her emotions spiking with happiness that he was trusting her to effectively speak for him again, obviously his request for her to directly translate had worried her that he was upset at her.

The leaders had listened with interest as Nash'ala spoke, this time the blue skinned tucked creature, that Harry had now learnt was an Azerothian Troll called Vo'jiin, spoke up this time with another question. But Nash'ala answered it instantly and Vo'jiin sat back whilst scratching one of his tusks, obviously contemplating what she had told him. Several other questions later and the topic seemed to turn back to the Terrans in general rather than Harry's actions thus far.

" _How many of your people are there that intend to come to Azeroth? And what of your allegiances, Nash'ala says that you have worked closely with Tyrande and now Lady Jaina, does this mean you are going to join the alliance with your fellow humans?"_ Sylvanas had been the most thorough with her questioning, something Harry thought was a normal thing at the Council by the fact the other leaders were content to take a back seat for the most part.

It was not as if Sylvanas was being purposefully hostile, that much he could glean from her emotions. In fact, if Harry didn't know any better, he would say that the questions were as much her desire to gain new and unknown knowledge as it was to ascertain if he and the other Terran's were a threat. Her question about his aims regarding alliances was one he was surprised didn't come sooner, given that the people of Azeroth had their own humans and history associated with them, so he took a moment to think before replying under the suddenly intense scrutiny of the Horde leaders.

" _There are about 3000 people from Earth that we hope to relocate here before the Legion finish devouring our world's magic, though this does include some of our magical races as well as Terrans like myself. I would also ask that you try not to judge us for what Azeroth's humans have said or done to you in the past, we know very little of your world and definitely have none of the bad blood that seems to permeate between the two sides."_ Pausing to allow Nash'ala to finish translating, Harry saw that whilst Thrall and Loth'mar frowned, obviously concerned with their people's ability to do as Harry had just requested, Cairne, Vo'jiin and Sylvanas seemed to consider such a thing Sylvanas was still like trying to read a red crayon scribble on a sandstone canyon.

" _With that in mind, I don't think my people will wish to join either group, no offence to any of you of course. After all, I do not see why I should stop being friendly with the Night Elves just because I want to trade with the Blood Elves or the lovely lady Sylvanas..."_ The laughs his last comment were worth the slightly angry look from the Banshee Queen, which given her rather stoic countenance was the equivalent of a murderous look from anyone else.

Sylvanas maintained her icy demeanour throughout and it was only after an hour when the Council dispersed to allow for the leaders to get back to their people did that change, Thrall and Jaina having moved off to an adjoining room to discuss the pirate problems part way through the questioning. Vo'jiin had been the first to leave, as he had a clan meeting back at the trolls main village in the area known as the Barrens. Given the troll's rather distinctive style and the style of speech, Harry couldn't help but smile even as they shook hands.

" _Be good to meet the first Terran, when your people be settled make sure you be visiting Sen'jin village. If your portkeys be as you say, I think there be a lot of good you can do to help my people reclaim their home."_ The fact that such help if the Trolls were successful in retaking their home would mean an awful lot of goodwill and favour didn't need to be said, though Harry would need to find out the exact details of what had occurred to lead to their departure before he offered any concrete help.

" _It was good to meet you as well Chieftain Vo'jiin, I thank you for your positive outlook on the situation regarding my people. When my work with Lady Jaina is done and our foothold secure we shall meet to discuss the details of your home."_ Warm enough to convey his gratitude at the troll's positivity, but cautious enough not to make any promises he might end up not wanting to keep, not a bad attempt Harry thought as the Troll nodded with only slightly dampened enthusiasm and then activated his hearthstone to return himself home.

" _Honourable, but not naive enough to give your help without understanding the full meaning of what would be required of you and your people. Still, despite your obvious caution you try and save those you can without concern for race or attitude, an admirable trait young Terran."_ The floor shook slightly as the Tauren Chieftain made his way over towards Harry with the sort of ponderous amble that reminded Harry of Grawp.

Unlike the simple minded giant though each of Cairne's movements was measured and purposeful, the glint in his eye belaying the hidden intelligence behind his rather slow speech and measured words. With a hand that could easily crush Harry's skull Cairne worked with surprising dexterity to remove a bracelet from his other wrist.

" _We Tauren are few, and despite the differences some of my kind have with humans, such a debt as saving the life of one of my kin cannot go ignored. So, I wish for you to take this charm, it has been in my family for centuries. The spirits of my family will watch over the one who wears it, and given your stance you will need protection from the fights you surely have left to come."_ Well perhaps it was a bracelet for the Tauren, it was more like a long double looped necklace for Harry, but given such a gift and the sentiment it came with might stop any Tauren he encountered from attacking him if they saw it, Harry wasn't going to be pedantic about it.

Harry could feel the magic that was embedded in his new jewellry and it had a calming effect on him that almost made him believe what Cairne was saying. After bidding the Tauren farewell and giving a similar promise to visit the Tauren village soon, Harry was left with two of the leaders he had come to meet, both ends of the emotional spectrum when it had come to interacting with him. Jaina and Thrall had bidden goodbye to the leaders before he had, the two then moving off to discuss the business that had been the real reason for Jaina's visit.

Loth'mar had been quick to step up and shake hands with both him AND Nash'ala, which was more than the other leaders were prepared to do at this stage, the others all ignoring the young woman in favour of him. Not that Nash'ala minded the lack of attention, her quiet request to the room for some water the only sign of how tiring the talks had been for her. As one of the Orc guards went to fetch the desired water, Loth'mar spoke to her for almost half a minute before his attention finally turned to Harry.

" _Lord Potter, I must again state how pleased I am to meet you in person, Coira has given me a detailed account of your interactions since her rather unflattering introduction."_ Despite his rather regal demeanour Harry found that Loth'mar had a very down to earth, sarcastic, sense of humour.

He chuckled as Nash'ala finished translating, already seeing how well Blaise and Loth'mar would get along in his head, though there was a small chance they might see each other as rivals. Not his problem Harry thought wryly as he replied.

 _"Regent Loth'mar, thank you for your support of my position there, things could have gone a lot worse if the other leaders hadn't believed me. How is Coira, I assume she has settled back into Silvermoon City well enough despite our adventures?"_ Address by title, offer gratitude and pretend their help was more valuable than it actually was. His inner Blaise was feeling quite smug until Loth'mar shook his head dismissively.

" _There is no need to play political games Lord Potter, whilst you seem to have some small experience you will find that both I and Lady Sylvanas have much more... ruthlessness at the game. Perhaps with Coira's help you can develop enough political sense to prove a modicum of challenge, hopefully not though as you are honest in your thoughts like Chieftain Bloodhoof, and honesty is a trait you will find valued here..."_ With that rather polite but forceful put down, along with the not so subtle hint regarding Sylvanas, Loth'mar returned to his more pleasant persona.

" _But Coira was actually on her way back to your holding in Desolace when I left Silvermoon City to make my way here, she has always been one for travel and adventure rather than guard duty, she also said that her familiarity with you and your group would make it easier for her to pass on a hearthstone for you to travel to Silvermoon City."_ Of course, the primary reason for the hearthstone had been to allow Harry to come and introduce himself to Loth'mar, but the effort was still appreciated and Harry was sincere in his thanks.

Despite the trouble that could arise between the magic drinker race and his own given the vast number of mages that made up the remaining humans, Harry was just happy that there were people out there not so prejudiced as to rule out an alliance based on race alone.

" _Thank you for allowing Coira to return to aid my group in our efforts, she has been greatly useful both on and off the battlefield. I apologise for my earlier attempt at politicking but one of my Terran advisers has been rather... insistent that I learn how to handle myself without resorting to magic."_ Loth'mar offered a polite chuckle and nodded in understanding, obviously this was not the first time he had dealt with warrior leaders as opposed to political ones.

" _Not a bad thing Lord Potter, but I would advise you practice more with closer allies in future rather than potentially alienate yourself, I of course will be happy to help instruct you when you visit Silvermoon City before you go off to meet with the Alliance races. I assume that you do intend to do that?"_ The blood elf's unsubtle hint and comment about his future plans seemed to be the Regent's way of being friendly so Harry chose not to take offence at the obvious dumbing down of the Regent's speech for his benefit.

The fact that he had been intending to travel to the other main continent of Azeroth to do as Loth'mar suggested went without saying, if he did want to keep the Terran's neutral in this rather delicate standoff then Harry would have to ensure that he was not seen to favour either side in public. Loth'mar's offer was therefore quite a generous one, given he was in effect allowing Harry to travel his lands without any kind of agreement or treaty and go talk to those who could well become potential enemies given the Blood Elves seeming closeness with the Horde.

There was the smallest of shifts in Sylvanas' carefully controlled emotions, making Harry wonder if she was considering speaking up for the first time since the leaders had officially broken up to return to their homes after signing the new non-aggression pact between them. But he saw no change in her posture or expression so Harry decided that it would be more prudent to answer the question quickly rather than wait for a potential point from the Banshee Queen.

" _Indeed, I have a few more things that I agreed to help Lady Proudmoore with and then I was going to start travelling to each of your territories. I will admit I was not expecting to actually meet any of you so soon, or in person given you are heads of state, more I was expecting to exchange correspondence at best given my human appearance. So I will travel to Silvermoon after Coira arrives with the hearthstone and then we can discuss things further before I continue my travels, after all another view on recent history would be very useful for me to come to my own conclusions."_ His statement that he didn't want to just take others words as truth was obviously the right thing to do as Loth'mar gave a true smile for the first time and grasped his hand in friendship once more before moving off to the hearthstone area to teleport out.

So that left the pair of them alone with Sylvanas, who had not yet shifted from either her seat or neutral expression, twin orbs piercing into Harry with all the emotion of a rock emanating from her. Seeing that she wasn't going to say anything or make the first move, Harry instead moved to sit across from her at the council table, making sure to offer Nash'ala a place first even though he knew she would refuse. Then he activated the translation rune, whilst it would put some strain on Nash'ala it would give her the opportunity to rest her jaw if she wished.

"So my lady, are you going to talk whatever business it is you wish to discuss? Or would you prefer for us to just gaze into each other's eyes across the room until the Warchief is done?" He smirked at his inference even though it got no visible reaction, sometimes that was all that was needed to show he had aggravated someone to the point that they hid their reaction.

Sylvanas did seem to be a little used to his style now as she was quick to respond, her tone about as alive as she was, given the total lack of inflection in her deadpan riposte.

"From what you said earlier human, I doubt I am your type, unless you are telling me you are into dead people..." Ouch, okay maybe word games wasn't the best approach, but at least it was something.

"I think the differences between our worlds mean that you won't understand if I were to say that you wouldn't be that out of place there before the Legion arrived." Sylvanas looked at him with only the slightest hint of anger, but it was obvious that she didn't believe him and even thought that he was being sarcastic with her.

"I highly doubt that your society would accept dead people walking around as easily as you might imply Harry Potter, humans have a great many taboos associated with those cursed to this unlife..." Harry could understand her disbelief as his own childhood with the Dursley's had shown the extent that the hatred of things that were different could go to, but they tended to be the extremes of society that were almost as different from the normal as those that they despised.

"How about I tell you about one of the magical creatures of our world, commonly known as a Vampire..." With that Harry began a conversation about Vampires and the strange fascination that many Terrans had with the undead bloodsuckers, Sylvanas actually looking slightly interested as he pointed out that the Forsaken seemed to have many of the advantages that came with Vampirism without the drawbacks such as the aversion to sunlight and the need to consume human blood.

Of course, Harry made it clear that he didn't think that Sylvanas and the other Forsaken should be happy with their undeath, after all the torment the Liche King had put them through he wouldn't wish such a life on anyone, but his outlook certainly seemed to have affected Sylvanas in some manner. The Banshee Queen looked thoughtful and her previous sarcasm and iciness had diminished a little over the course of the conversation, though Jaina and Thrall returned before she could ask any of the questions that she obviously had in mind.

Neither leader looked particularly happy which was at odds with their previously friendly interactions, Jaina making straight for the door without a word to any of them whilst Thrall moved back to his seat at the Council table. Realising that if he wanted to actually find out what was going on before Jaina decided to leave without him, Harry quickly bowed to Sylvanas.

"It looks like duty calls my lady, I hope that I get the chance to work with you in the future for the betterment of both our races." Sylvanas seemed almost amused by the comment for a moment but then the first true smile Harry had seen appeared on her face, admittedly it was so small it was almost impossible to detect, but it was there anyway.

"You actually mean what you said, I think you are the only person I have met other than perhaps the Blood Elves who were not initially wary or deceptive towards us... Now go before Proudmoore loses her temper entirely..." Despite the rather blunt dismissal Harry could tell that he had at least made a little headway with the most socially difficult of the Horde leaders, especially given the whispered instruction for Harry to contact her when he did travel to Silvermoon.

Now he just had to calm down his fellow human without her deciding to freeze everything within a hundred metres of her, not an easy task given her rather dark mood. He managed to catch up with her halfway back to the Zeppelin, the various members of the Horde passing through the streets were wise enough to give her a wide berth and Harry was content to do the same until they got somewhere a little more private.

After all, despite the demeanour of rage that she was currently exhibiting externally, all Harry was able to read from her was a mixture of frustration and amusement. His suspicions that this had in fact been a ruse were proven to be correct when they were aboard the zeppelin and had taken off, the three of them having a room for the 4 hour trip it would take to return, Jaina jumping onto the bed in the room and laughing in a disbelieving manner.

"I don't know who I distrust more, the Orcs like Garrosh who leap at every opportunity to try and start another war, or my own people who from the sounds of it are deliberately trying to aggravate them into doing just that." She looked over at Harry before shrugging apologetically.

"Sorry for dragging you away from Lady Sylvanas, but Thrall and I agreed that those discordant factions amongst his people would be less likely to try and stir up more trouble if they saw the pair of us getting angry at each other. So I got to put on a little show and avoid Garrosh trying some other stupid thing on the way back. Now I just have to do a little favour for Thrall and then I can go deal with the racist idiots amongst my own people." The defeated sigh at the end of her speech was very out of character to the upbeat and confident woman he had quickly become good friends.

Given how uncomfortable and frustrating Harry found his own role amongst the Terran survivors, Harry could only imagine how much more difficult it was with all the other races on Azeroth who were hostile to humans on top of the threat of the Legion forces and this Scourge that he kept hearing about. Grabbing a bottle of what looked like wine from the corner of the cabin, Harry quickly conjured three crystal goblets on the table in front of him.

"I think you should take a break first Jaina, I can speak from experience that being made to run a settlement of thousands of people will wear you down if you just focus on what needs doing. So first we will have a drink, then we shall get to wherever this favour Thrall needs you to do. Then, when that is done, I think I know just what you need..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, I might have changed the Cycle of Hatred storyline a fair amount... Yeah I am not going to apologise for the opportunity to both introduce Harry to the Horde and earn himself a load of brownie points with Jaina at the same. Thrall and Jaina have never struck me as the type to kowtow to the dissenters amongst their own kind just to make life a little easier, which is what they do when they start meeting in secret via zeppelin. So here they are still travelling between each city as friends and allies should, only putting on shows of discontent to allow them an advantage against their enemies.
> 
> What do people think of my Horde leaders? A fair differentiation of characters? Or do they need some more work in the coming chapters?


	9. The Broken Cycle

Things hadn't gone according to plan, something Harry was starting to expect. Harry's original plan, which was to take Jaina back to Thunder Axe so that she could meet Susan and take a look at the small library the Terran's had managed to bring with them, only lasted until they met Aegwynn whilst relocating a group of Thunder lizards who had become very hostile after the destruction of their homeland woods.

The ancient Sorceress was tetchy at best even as she aided them in moving the Thunder Lizards to a new home, a job that was easy enough with 3 powerful magic users that each had their own special magics to bring to bear, along with Aegwynn lowering the anti-teleportation wards that had disrupted Jaina's original attempt.

It was when they had returned to her home up in the mountains that the trouble had truly begun, Aegwynn bringing up the subject of demon influence growing in the surrounding regions as if she were discussing the day's weather. When Jaina had pushed her about what she knew, Aegwynn had instead used her magic to show the return of a cabal called the Burning Blade amongst both the Horde and the humans at Theramore that was working to instigate another war between the two factions..

Whilst he still wasn't entirely clear what the Burning Blade was and what it's aims were, groups didn't usually use such names if they were mere smugglers or members of the Neighbourhood watch, so Harry had decided to save Jaina some energy and offered to apparate the three of them back to Theramore. Whilst Jaina didn't like the sensation of being squeezed through a drainpipe, Aegwynn had merely found his display of magic to be 'slightly different from the usual cantrips used by young people these days'.

It hadn't taken long for them to root out the source of the Burning Blade's revival, in fact it had been waiting for Jaina to return. A group of warlocks, both Human and Orc lead by Jaina's own chamberlain, had taken over the main palace to summon a powerful demon using Jaina as a sacrifice. Given the lack of guards other than the pair that the chamberlain himself claimed to have murdered, Harry had to assume other Burning Blade members were either posing as Guards at the entrance to the palace or were distracting Theramore's military forces elsewhere to keep them from their normal patrols.

"Your treacherous simpering to the foul orcs has left us weak for when Thrall dies and the rest of the brutes revert to their barbaric heritage. I refuse to see our work go up in smoke just because you think you can trust them." The Chamberlain had been ranting for almost a minute now and Harry was surprised Jaina was letting him continue rather than just blasting him, but he supposed that she didn't have his concern of conserving his magic to listen in for any further insight into the traitors grander plans.

The Ork warlocks amongst the Chamberlain's group were obviously not pleased to hear the mocking the human was giving their race but they seemed to keep themselves remarkably composed, and given the knowing grin one of them threw another Harry could tell that they had their own plans for after the group had defeated Jaina. Not that any of that mattered as Jaina obviously grew bored of her former Chamberlain's ranting at last, launching an ice bolt across the room that nearly punched through the shield spell that the man erected in front of him.

The warlocks were only moderately powerful, probably at the same level as an average member of Harry's Phantoms, but between them they would probably be able to overcome Jaina by herself, especially as they had the advantage of preparation time. Harry had never been one to sit idly by and let other people fight battles by themselves though, even without the added bonus of dealing with some demon worshippers who would definitely have caused him trouble in the future.

So even as the first of the warlocks cast his fireball towards Jaina, Harry waded into the battle and immediately changed the whole dynamic of the conflict. His first earthen spike flurry obviously caught the warlocks by surprise, one of them falling to the ground with a fist sized hole in his chest from a piece of shrapnel whilst the others managed to either dodge or shield themselves. Leaving Jaina to fight her Chamberlain, Harry began a deadly dance with the majority of the warlocks, the human and orc groups separately working together and both groups seemed perfectly happy for him to attack the other.

He had erected an earthen barrier as soon as the battle started around Aegwynn and Nash'ala as both of them would be at risk in the torrent of magical spells that filled the air, the warlocks working together to summon their demonic allies whilst some of them shielded the others from Harry's spells. Given the fact he had been outnumbered before, the sudden doubling of his enemies would have daunted most people, but Harry merely stamped his feet and poured his magic into the ground, a dozen roughly hewn golems smashing their way through the wooden floorboards a moment later.

He would be able to repair those later, but the destruction was worth it for the looks on some of the warlocks faces as each of the Hagrid sized golems moved to attack. They wouldn't last overly long, Harry hadn't put much magic into them so their actual endurance was probably only be worth 2 or 3 fireballs before they collapsed, but they served the purpose of distracting the enemy wonderfully.

Charging towards the smaller group of warlocks which was made up of the Orcs, Harry fired half a dozen cutting and piercing curses at the magical shield three of the Orcs had erected whilst summoning the sword of Gryffindor. The spells didn't penetrate the shield but did sap it's magical strength so that he was able to physically force his way through as he rolled under the attack of the Felguard that had been summoned by the group.

Even as it tried to bring it's giant weapon round for another strike Harry had already fired a bombarda into it's chest whilst he brought the sword of Gryffindor round to remove the head of one of the shielding warlocks. The others were slow to react, obviously not expecting him to close with them given his initial mage like spells, the wounded Felguard falling to his blade before the other Orcs had time to recover and turn their attention to him.

Despite their obvious nervousness at close range Harry quickly found himself under attack by half a dozen spells, each of which reeked of corruption magic and slammed into his shield with enough power to shatter it, meaning he had to duck under the last dark purple curse aimed at his head and radiated enough heat to make him think he might not be imagining the smell of burnt hair around him.

Time to think on that later as he resisted the pull on his mental shields of a warlock's summoned succubus as his wand and sword did their bloody work, ending the remaining Orcs in less than ten seconds. There was no respite however, a wave of fireballs and other dark spells were fired in his direction from the other group of warlocks who had managed to bring down his Earthen golems, Harry quickly bringing up an Earthen wall whilst he opened up a hole in the ground beneath him to let him move out of the killzone.

The fact he could pop up in different places without using apparition meant that many of his opponents thought he could actually meld with the earth and travel through it almost instantaneously, but that would take a connection to the earth that even Harry couldn't claim. Instead he merely opened a passageway large enough for him to slide through and then manipulated the earth under his back to move the passageway and to his destination, which was directly behind the human warlocks who were still blasting away at what was left of his earthen shield.

A wave of dark energy caught his attention before he could return to the fight and Harry turned to see the Chamberlain dead on the floor, a dark fire surrounding his corpse as a portal opened and a winged demon the size of Cairne began to wrestle its way out of the twisting nether and into Azeroth. Despite the things size Jaina seemed no less confident than she had before, the petite sorceress summoning a hail of icy shards to fall upon the newest demon whilst at the same time summoning a water elemental that was almost the same size as it.

As the summoned creature moved forwards and slammed into the newly arrived demon that Harry could only assume was Zmodlor, Jaina was forced to distract herself into dodging the attacks of the warlocks who had destroyed his earthen wall, forced to lose her cloak as a dark fireball caught it and set it alight. Realising he had been lax in dealing with Zmodlor's minions and that Jaina was now suffering for it, Harry pushed himself out of his hiding area and summoned buckbeak, the amount of mana needed to do so easily worth the look of terror on the humans faces as the Earthen summon tore through the first two imps it faced.

WIth buckbeak gouging at the remaining warlocks it was unsurprising that some of them tried to flee, their plan a complete failure with Harry's intervention. Harry wasn't going to allow any of them the chance to slink away however, using his agility to catch up with the fleeing cultists and cutting them down with curses that most were too busy running to try and dodge or block.

The fight ended relatively quickly after that, Zmodlor reduced to a mere distraction for the pair of mages, Jaina banishing the demon by following Aegwynn's instructions whilst Harry dealt with the remaining warlocks. Other than slightly singed hair caused by the fireball he had been forced to dodge, Harry was unharmed and still ready for battle, whilst Jaina lost her cloak and had to expend a good portion of her energy banishing the demon as well as defeating her traitorous servant.

Assuming that Nash'ala would translate for him as he brought down the protective earthen wall he had put in place, Harry started checking the warlocks to make sure none of them were faking their demise.

" _And that's why you don't mess with the Terran-Theramore alliance! Or perhaps we call it the Terramore alliance, what do you think Jaina?"_ Seeing Jaina smile at his adrenaline fuelled antics before frowning and looking at her chamberlain once more, Harry was confused at her lack of a good mood.

" _Our work is not yet done brat, so stop acting like a candy filled child at this minor victory._ " Aegwynn's rather amused comment, translated through Nash'ala who had been hidden behind the ancient witch the entire time, brought Harry's little victory boost rapidly back to earth, Jaina nodding as she moved through the palace to her throne room.

Harry would have liked to review the monologues that her chamberlain and then Zmodlor had given in usual evil villain fashion, obviously he had missed something. But he stood by his cancelling of the translation charm part way through the Chamberlain's rant to save his magic and Nash'ala's head, he zoned out most monologues now as a point of course, he had heard enough shit from Voldemort and Vaquis to last a lifetime. Perhaps it had been a bit hasty of him if he had been by himself, but seeing as both Jaina and the old crone (call him brat would she?) seemed to know what was going on he wasn't too worried.

Still whilst Jaina was looking frantically through the papers on her ornate desk, Harry had another thing he could follow up on. All he needed was a little back up...

*Time Skip*

"All present and accounted for Harry, the guards had no idea what the Chamberlain was planning, merely assumed it was part of his military reorganisation strategy that he claimed Jaina had left him to administer." The report from the lead mage of the phantoms did allow Harry to relax even as Blaise threw him a 'what did I tell you' look.

Harry had decided to be safe rather than sorry in the end, the twenty mages from Thunder Axe helping him stun and restrain every guard on duty on the Palace outskirts after he had apparated back and told them what was going on. He wanted to go a step further, which was to have everyone in Theramore's military screened either by himself or a legilimency user to make sure they weren't a member of the Burning Blade. But first Blaise and then Jaina, when she had returned from helping Thrall deal with the conflict at Northwatch that had been brought about by her chamberlain's machinations as well as infiltrators amongst the Horde ranks, had stopped him from trying such a feat.

Firstly, it would be a logistical and endurance nightmare for the small number of Terrans to carry out such tests just on the fifty guards they had subdued given the innate magic resistance that most denizens of Azeroth had to such invasive spells such as legilimency. Secondly, the panic such an inquisition would cause, especially if it got out that Jaina's own head of staff had been a traitor, could possibly do the Burning Blade's work for them.

"I must admit, this Zmodlor knew what he was doing, this is more complex than most of my plots before the Legion attacked. If he hadn't been so overconfident as to actually come here physically then he would have been quite the thorn in our side in the future." Blaise's almost impressed comment made Harry look at him in slight surprise, the former Slytherin almost never complimented anyone on anything.

Blaise caught his look and sighed before gesturing to the papers in front of him that Nash'ala had helped them translate.

"Let me start at the top, I will try and simplify things as best I can..." Ignoring the irritation he felt yet again at being treated like a simpleton, Harry refused to react and simply listened in as Blaise began to speak in detail about the plot.

Given the seeming ease with which they had ended up unravelling the plot, Harry was surprised how many backstabbing promises and hidden maneuvers made up the plot once they started reviewing it. From what they could make out, Zmodlor had spent years infiltrating the two sides and playing each sides hatred for the other to his advantage. Even in the final confrontation with Jaina when they summoned him, Zmodlor had both the Humans and the Orcs under the impression that once Jaina was dead then he would help them wipe out the other group before moving onto increasing their powers further.

The attack at Northwatch had been an almost entirely separate plan in case Zmodlor had failed to kill Jaina, the demon using the Chamberlain's paranoia about the Orcs other than Thrall to get him to reinforce the Northwatch when Jaina had left him in charge, knowing that such a military build up would cause tension that his agents in the Horde took advantage of. If he and Jaina hadn't been so prompt in dealing with the warlocks the situation might have been much worse, as it was Jaina arrived before hostilities had truly commenced.

Despite this Burx, the Orc leading the Horde army that had set up camp outside of Northwatch, still tried to commit to a fight even after Jaina had arrived and informed him of Zmodlor's deception, so Jaina and her forces had been forced to repel the first few probing attacks until Thrall had arrived via Zeppelin and dealt with his errant leader. Supposedly the little duel had been as one sided as Jaina's fight with her Chamberlain, Thrall not even using magic and merely battering his commander into the ground with Doomhammer in front of his suddenly more amenable forces.

Speaking of the Warchief, Thrall had returned with Jaina after sending the Horde forces home, the Orc's concern for his friend obvious even as the two of them talked quietly to a scribe who was writing down what would become the first official document of peace between Orcs and humans since the end of the Second Azerothian war.

"This kind of lucky happenstance of you being in the right place at the right time is ridiculous, I thought we would have left it behind on earth but here you are again, no doubt causing the seers and prophets of this world all kinds of hell as you ruin plots and schemes..." Blaise's bitching, as there was no other way such complaint could be surmised, just brought a smile to Harry's face as he mentally ticked the scoreboard in his head.

Harry couldn't help but be quite pleased with himself, he had managed to prevent all out war between the largest faction on the continent and his own soon to be allies, killed more than a dozen demon worshippers and was now even being included in the Non-Aggression pact that the two sides were formalising even now. It was in the form of a witness Harry had been asked to take part, as opposed to a direct signee, but that was more Blaise's advice rather than a lack of commitment from either Thrall or Jaina.

Until his people were evacuated and set up properly, it would be better if the commitments made to any group or faction were made on a personal level, meaning Harry pretty much was only able to use his services when it came to bartering with the other leaders. It would allow the Terrans at a later date to go to any and all negotiating tables from a better bargaining position than as the interplanetary refugees that he was currently.

But given his actions regarding Theramore thus far, Harry thought that he could claim that they wouldn't be too hard done by when they did trade with the people of Theramore, assuming that nothing else occurred to screw with plan of course. And given the powerful Earthen magic that he had felt off to the South East of the city when he had truly unleashed his powers for the first time since Ashenvale, Harry doubted that rather optimistic hope would come to pass without some help on his behalf.

Rather than mention the feeling to Jaina and causing her additional stress, Harry instead merely resolved to investigate it later, after introducing Jaina to Susan and Thunder Axe fortress of course. Only polite to show someone your fort after the battle you took part in wrecked a good portion of their own...

*Line Break*

She felt him through the air long before the vibrations of his footprints reached her, which was a surprise for Onyxia as she ordered her guards back with a simple two pat rhythm of her front left claw. The feel of the approaching human's magic was both enticing and of some concern to her, the fact that his magic interacted with the earth almost as easily as hers did and with so much more fine tuned control made it clear that he knew she was there even as he reached the entrance to her cave complex.

Normally she would have crushed such an impudent human for stepping into her realm with only a bound Naga to accompany, but his power was enough to give her pause, for now. After all, given the eggs that she had spent the last ten years laying and protecting, Onyxia wasn't so much concerned for her own health but their wellbeing. Given their pariah status amongst the over dragon flights along with the main races of Azeroth, their numbers had dropped to the point that even with whatever her brother was planning in Blackrock Mountain her eggs were more precious than anything else.

Well, she admonished herself for being so melodramatic, not more important than she was of course given she could just relocate and lay some more eggs if such extreme action became necessary. But that would take another decade and she had better things to do than play house with no company other than the rather dull guards that her brother had granted her.

So she had to be nice with this mage to begin with, if only to prevent her getting overly energetic in her first fight since she had escaped Stormwind after that Stonemasons debacle and accidently destroying some of her own clutch. Who knows, Onyxia thought with a grin as she sensed him approach closer even though her eyes could not pick out his form, perhaps if he was interesting enough she might play with her food for once...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Better I hope than the original version (if those reading this did actually read that...)
> 
> So, Onyxia... Thought I should get the initial meeting out of the way now given that Harry will be travelling significantly and therefore might not be back to Theramore too often. Onyxia's history will be different to the canon lore, both because most of that is hearsay and also because I don't see her being foolish enough to kidnap the crown prince of Stormwind when she escapes the city and think that is a good plan to stop people coming after her.
> 
> I have tried to make her out to be a little different from Plums portrayal of her thus far, but I will let you guys decide if I have been at all successful.
> 
> Please review and let me know if you like the new more in depth version...


	10. Dealing with Dragons

' _Dragons, why does it always have to be demons or dragons?_ ' Harry's thoughts were the only thing that distracted him from the stupidness of his potential actions, stepping into the cave with a trembling Nash'ala at his side.

" _Harry, are you sure this is a good idea? Shouldn't we have gotten some reinforcements? I mean, if this is a true dragon as you say then they are powerful enough to destroy small armies by themselves..."_ To give the Naga credit she hadn't taken the out he had given her at the cave entrance, after all as long as it was the large dragon in charge Harry now had another translation charm that he could use temporarily if his other plan didn't work.

" _And if the dragon can do that, I would prefer not to worry about the dragon thinking we are here to kill it with the allies we bring. No, best to do this with the two of us, just stay right by me so that I can apparate us out of here if I need to..."_ Nash'ala nodded and Harry could feel the trust emanating from her despite her fear, though she did surprise him slightly when she grasped his free hand in her own.

" _There, now it should be ea..."_ Nash'ala was cut off by a deep and echoing roar from further inside the cave, her face paling even as she gripped his hand tightly.

" _The dragon... It knows we approach. 'Come human, I know you have sensed me. Don't make me come to you...'"_ So the dragon could talk, whilst this could make things easier for him to work out the dragon's motives, it also made it infinitely more dangerous than the dragons from his own world.

Talking belied intelligence, and given the now almost oppressive magical presence on his psyche, Harry knew that such intelligence meant that the dragon knew it was powerful and how to use said power. Still there was no outright hostility he could sense yet, boredom and impatience featuring prominently in one of the most complex emotional ranges he had ever sensed.

" _Well, let us not keep the dragon waiting. Are you sure you are okay with this Nash'ala? It's not too late..."_ She nodded but didn't say anything else as he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

They were almost through the cavern that seemed to be an entrance to a cave complex, several smaller passages breaking off from the main tunnel through which they could see light, pale though it is. It took another minute for the pair of them to finish traversing the tunnel, which opened up into a large cavern that was at least 30 metres high, the light they had seen earlier pouring in from an area on the right of the cave, which seemed to be where the cavern breached the surface once more.

" _Harry, the eggs..."_ Harry knew what she was trying to imply, the dozens if not hundreds of eggs that littered the room in semi organised clutches an obvious indication of the dragon's sex, assuming that they were anything like his dragons.

Harry was more concerned by the area of darkness at the back of the cave, it was where he could sense the dragon's magic and the light entering the cave should mean that he should be able to see at least something inside those shadows. Almost as if she had heard him there was a trembling on the ground, followed by another as his eyes finally caught the movement he had been anticipating, though he couldn't help what must have been a look of shock on his face as he saw how large the dragon actually was.

" _Hungarian Horntail, you have just been demoted to oversized lizard..."_ This dragon was easily three or four feet taller than the Horntail he had fought in the Triwizard tournament and much more heavily built, horns on her head twice the size of Harry if not more so. It moved forward with the kind of confidence that only came with proven arrogance, black scales shifting almost silently against each other as feelings of amusement shifted across it's mind.

" _Harry!"_ Nash'ala's panicked hiss was joined by her grip on his hand becoming painful in it's intensity, the Naga almost frozen in terror as she tried to hiss more to him.

" _B-black dragon, Onyxia..."_ Harry looked a little confused, obviously the colour of the dragon was meant to mean something, as was the name but given his lack of Azerothian knowledge he was a bit stumped.

" _Nash'ala calm down! What is it about this Onyxia that has you so concerned? Should we..."_ This time it was Harry who was drowned out by the dragon, a deep laugh punctuated with several small bursts of fire from the thing's nose reverberating round the chamber before the now named Onxyia spoke.

" _Oh little human, I am surprised by the fact you do not know me by name. If you didn't already interest me by speaking the dragon tongue, that would have kept me from killing you for the moment... After all, given my past actions with humans, I thought there was quite the price on my head and that any sighting of my kind was synonymous with my deeds."_ So Parseltongue could act as draconic in Azeroth? That would have been useful to know about five minutes ago.

Seeing Nash'ala cast him a confused glance obviously she couldn't understand draconic, so with a sigh Harry did his best to sound confident as he tried to explain the fact Onyxia could understand him without needing Nash'ala to translate.

" _She can understand Parseltongue Nash'ala and I can understand her, so I won't need you to translate for me as we first thought. Do you wish to head back?"_ The offer was obviously tempting to the Naga but in the end she shook her head and merely slithered back slightly, in an obvious sign of deference to the dragon in front of her.

" _Interesting, so you have a bound Naga with you to translate for you. I can only assume that means you do not speak the common tongue, as the Naga do not have any other useful languages, other than the one you seem to speak to us both in. A language that can speak to both Naga and dragons as if it were their own language... I might yet refrain from devouring you if you keep making yourself this interesting human..."_ The dragon was eyeing him with more and more interest each second, taking another step forwards and lowering her head even as he wondered what she meant by Nash'ala being bound. Harry had to admit he stiffened at the movement and raised his wand slightly subconsciously, bringing forth another burst of amusement from Onyxia.

" _As much as I would like to see your magic fight against my own in battle, I think we both know that I would crush you fairly quickly human, you are in my domain now."_ Obviously she didn't know about his Earth affinity then Harry thought. But she was right, in a straight up fight she could just overpower him given how much magic she had available to her. Not that he would fight fairly of course, but if the dragon was prepared to be peaceful for now, then so would he.

" _Good, you are not as stupid as the rest of your kind would make you seem. Now human, I think you should explain to me why you came to my home by yourself, most people dare not approach a whelp by themselves and I know you could sense my power long before you arrived..."_ Given the way the dragon had acted thus far, Harry could tell that she was using him to alleviate her boredom as much as she was actually interested in what he had to say.

' _Better make myself as interesting as possible then. I can find out why a dragon this powerful is hiding out in the middle of a godforsaken swamp, pretty much by herself, later...'_ Given Nash'ala's fear of Onyxia and the dragon's own words, Harry could tell that this was the kind of dragon that would carry out her earlier threat of eating him without a second thought, another dangerous fact to add to his growing mental bestiary page for these Black dragons.

" _Well, I think I should first introduce myself to you and give you a bit of information as to why I am quite different to the humans you have encountered on this world Onyxia, it will help you understand why I require Nash'ala here to translate for me most of the time. It will also make it clear why I did not recognise you upon sight as you seemed to expect..."_ At Onyxia's nod, that seemed to imply both permission and a demand for him to hurry along, Harry quickly began to speak.

He was now quite adept at explaining about the Terran's and their plight, though he kept talk about their numbers and location on Azeroth quiet for the moment. Given Onyxia's 'slightly' hostile attitude and seeming desire to 'test' his magical abilities, that information may spell trouble for them later, if she did decide she wanted to have a proper battle or just to wipe them out. Onyxia's boredom had long since faded, and was replaced by a mixture of interest and what could only be described as derisive pity, something she made clear when she interrupted his discussion about the end of the Burning Legion's invasion.

" _Did the Titans not leave your world with any defences against the legion? Where were the Dragons you had told me you encountered during your childhood? Even a dozen of them would have made quite the difference in your fight..."_ It was strange Harry had to admit, the question could easily be taken as a supremacist attitude mixed with a opinion that the Terran's had been weak, but it instead felt like she was trying to link his world to her own in some way.

" _The only Titans that I know of had been part of Terran mythology more than 2000 years ago, defeated by a group of 'gods' that I think were just powerful mages. So I doubt they were the same Titans you speak of. And the dragons of my world were nowhere near as powerful or intelligent as you, certainly none of them that I know of were capable of speaking or using their innate magic..."_ Onyxia's face twisted slightly and Harry was worried he had said the wrong thing, but then she gestured off to the side where four much smaller dragons were stood, occasionally snapping at each other out of obvious impatience.

" _Sound rather like my 'guards' that my beloved brother has given me, it is almost as if he wishes me to go mad with boredom and go on a rampage given how stupid they are... Not that I would do such a thing human, so don't look at me like that. The last thing I need right now is to so brazenly gather the attention of the world after my previous work."_

" _Not that I wish to seem to uninformed, but this is the third time that you or Nash'ala have referenced events that I have no idea about. Perhaps you would do me the honour of elaborating slightly so that I can better understand?"_ Onyxia looked at him almost as if she were confused, before gesturing at Nash'ala.

" _Would you not prefer to have your little servant explain to you what she knows?"_ There was a strange trepidation in Onyxia's voice at this, Harry could tell that for whatever reason the dragon was not used to having her word taken as it was. Deciding to see what a little faith might produce as well as to warn her of his emotion sensing abilities, Harry shook his head before doing his best to smile lightly at her.

" _I prefer to hear things from the people who were directly involved, you have yet to try and deceive me with anything you have said thus far from what I can sense. So why should I not get your perspective, rather than a third or fourth hand account?"_ It was subtle, small enough that he almost didn't catch the slightest of grins that came over Onyxia's face, before she sat down with a heavy thud and roared to her guards.

" _Leave us, make sure no one can disturb us until I tell you otherwise. Not even my brother should he 'deign' to visit me for once."_ This was obviously a big deal to the other dragons as they seemed ready to object, though Onyxia sent them on their way very quickly with a gout of flames.

" _They think I do not know that they report everything I do to my brother, this undoubtedly will get back to him as well but that is not a concern. Nefarian cares only for the eggs and the power they will bring him, which is why he sends guards even if he can't persuade me to join him in his blackened hellhole of a domain. But until he manages to get another female black dragon to grow to maturity without being eaten by her kin, leaving to start her own plans or killed trying to plot against him there is no fall back option for him. Still, you wished to know of my history Terran and I imagine my familial matters are not of concern or interest to you. What do you know about the Sundering of this world?"_ Nefarian would be Onyxia's brother Harry presumed, and from the sounds of it there was little love lost between them.

So for the next two hours Onyxia spoke of the history of Azeroth and her place in it, Harry deciding quite quickly to use the translation charm Susan had taught him so that Onyxia could speak in common, otherwise Nash'ala would have been bored stiff. The charm was a less versatile and effective version of the rune supported link he and Nash'ala shared, requiring more power to apply, especially against a creature with Onyxia's innate magic resistance, and could only be used on someone a certain number of times before it lost it's effectiveness.

Harry was surprised to hear of the sheer number of world shattering events that have occurred or nearly occurred on Azeroth, many of them due to or influenced by members of the black dragonflight, he could now understand Nash'ala's almost instinctual fear as Onyxia described her father's fall into madness and the slaughter that followed. Onyxia's role seemed to be very passive in the fighting, only occasionally having to kill groups of adventurers that came after her, in revenge for her flight's actions.

But seeing as he could detect no deceit when he asked her to clarify that she had not actively taken part in the war, he decided to take her word for now. Onyxia was a schemer and a consummate plotter and she made that clear from the start, telling stories of how she would infiltrate the various races of the world and plot and scheme her way through their ranks. Given her earlier boredom and impatience, Harry got the feeling that she did such plots to give her something to do other than hide away from those who hate the black dragons, of which there were more than enough.

"I do not claim to be 'misunderstood' or whatever rhetoric I could try and use to make you a compassionate pawn of mine, I will be honest with you Terran as I have been all this time. You mortals have such a short life span that to me the rise and fall of your kingdoms are often just a minor distraction, whether I intervene to help sustain it or to bring it down matters little in the scheme of my life. Though since the Legion's return I have made a few mistakes that will irritate me for some time..."

"I am surprised to hear you speak of mistakes, many immortal beings that I have encountered are very prideful in their belief they can do little wrong. What happened?" She growled at him slightly for his amused comment, though it was a lot less intimidating now that she had transformed into a regal looking and rather buxom raven haired woman after Harry had offered to cast the translation charm on her.

"There was, no there is, a human Kingdom on the other continent of Azeroth known as Lordaeron. Just after the invasion of the Orcs in their first war on Azeroth, I decided to integrate myself into the Kingdom, despite everything that my flight has done I do not want to see this world fall to the Legion and their minions." Her tone became quite cold at this point, and Harry got the feeling that the anger that he could feel was very much aimed at someone who was still alive at this point and had probably accused her of just that.

"So I went to work as Lady Katrana Prestor, daughter to a house that my father had created as an alias. I worked with the King to create the first true Alliance, which then retook the lands the Orks had managed to take, including the city of Stormwind and the lands that went with it. During this time I met the young Prince who was to inherit the throne of Stormwind, Varian Wrynn. And considering the damage done to the city and the surrounding areas when the Orcs razed the place along with the general incompetence of his nobles and advisors, I offered to accompany him back to Stormwind to help rebuild." There was more to this than she was saying, even Harry could work that out, but she was talking now with the kind of passion that is difficult to fake, even more so given his abilities.

"During the rebuilding I saw the opportunity to force Varian to rid himself of the worst of these nobles without him coming off as an oppressive king, as well as a chance for me to harden him into something less idealistic and naive as he was in the days of relative peace after the second war. I manipulated the council of nobles into ripping the stonemasons off, who had been fundamental in rebuilding Stormwind. And they naturally started rioting to make their displeasure known, whilst Varian was off on one of his trips to the other areas of his kingdom."

"Varian comes back, pacifies the rioters without or with very little violence, becomes the hero of the people and further cemented in his power base. This then allows him to lessen the power of the nobles without substantial backlash as they are the ones who nearly caused a civil war?" Surprisingly Nash'ala was the one to offer this guess at Onyxia's plan, the young Naga flushing slightly as both of them turned to look in her direction.

"Not far off, but I overplayed my hand with the second part of the plot, which was to have the rioters threaten the royal family. This should have forced Varian to take a firmer handle on the situation and be more decisive in putting the riots down, growing a backbone for the future." The 'but' was almost palpable as Onyxia paused for breath, Harry couldn't feel sadness but there was a certain level of regret in her voice as she spoke once more.

"But my agent, either due to incompetence or his own personal agenda, went too far and the rioters ended up killing Varian's young Queen." The pieces began to fall into place for Harry at this new information, Onyxia's words about humans making a lot more sense now even as she continued.

"Varian and I had managed to subdue most of the previous riots before that point but after the Queen's death things escalated too quickly for me to stop. Varian fell into a depression that I could not pull him out of even with my magic and one of the stonemason leaders, Edwin Vancleef who was also my agent, fled the city with many of his supporters to start up a criminal organisation known as the Defias brotherhood."

"But how does this, and correct me if the things are unrelated, lead to you hiding in a cave on the other side of the world? Even with the Queen's death I doubt that you were involved in anyway that could lead back to your alias, especially with your ability to change form as you can obviously do." Onyxia looked at him with the kind of disbelief that could only be generated when someone believes a story that the teller was expecting to be laughed at for.

"Y-you actually believe me when I say that I didn't want the Queen dead? And though not directly related it was at that point that I realised I was not the only one who was trying to subtly influence the future of Stormwind. Someone clever enough to use my unmasking as a dragon as the excuse for every wrong or bad event to have occurred in Stormwind since the Second War and beyond. I wouldn't be surprised if there are still things that I get blamed for there, and I haven't returned in almost 10 years..." Someone clever and devious enough to outwit a dragon, as well as lead the people of Stormwind to dance to their unknown tune, not good news for Harry to have for his future travels there.

That was if Onyxia was telling him the truth of course, Harry knew well enough from dealing with people like Blaise that there were more than enough ways to lie that could befuddle or just bypass his abilities. But he had a name to follow up on now, even if he didn't want to try asking Onyxia to submit to some veritaserum, this Vancleef sounded like a much, much easier way of confirming the story one way or another.

"You do realise I will need to verify this Onyxia, my people have ways of making sure that people's accounts are all they say they are."

"You claim such magic Terran, such enchantments and abilities were rare even before the Sundering here. I would need you to explain the tests before I submit to them of course. Whilst you seem to give my story far more understanding than I could have honestly expected, it has also given you quite the valuable reason to wish me ill at the same time. My head would definitely make you a hero in Stormwind and the other Alliance nations, and therefore your people's arrival to this place much simpler."

The offer was unexpected and honestly Harry was surprised she would even broach the subject, but perhaps having someone believe you, even tentatively after being accused of so much can make someone more open to compromise, even a black dragon.

"I will do so at some later time, I do not have the items required with me and I will need to wait for the rest of my people to come across to this world for me to be able to acquire them. So the next question I suppose, is where do we stand with each other? I assume that we have moved past the whole you trying to eat me thing now?"

"Ha, you are obviously not one for subtlety Lord Potter, and consider this free advice before you look at me like that, lest you tempt me into trying to eat you again. The humans have a penchant for titles and other such meaningless hereditary methods of retaining power. Going to them as a lord or some other titled leader will make your position stronger than approaching in the same manner you did with me."

"I notice that you did not answer the question Onyxia, or is it just the fact that your guards have returned which prevents you from answering?" Harry's observation brought focus back to the four large drakes, who seemed surprised that he had noticed their return despite their ponderous and earthshaking footsteps.

" _I told you not to disturb me fools, or do I need to remind you of MY power..."_ It happened so quickly that Harry had looked away to focus on the guards for a moment, only to be bathed in the hot breath of a fully grown Onyxia as she transformed back.

The guards did not seem overly worried by Onyxia's threat, though the malevolence directed at him and Nash'ala was almost palpable in it's intensity. The largest of them, who had a large scar running down the left hand side of it's face, scoffed and gestured with a long razor sharp claw at Harry.

" _We listen to your brother not you Onyxia, and he has us here to protect the future whelps of our flight until they are ready for his attention. This human is a threat to our future plans and Nefarian has said he is to be eliminated, so that he cannot tell others of this haven. So stand aside breeder and we shall deal with what you evidently cannot..."_ Harry almost felt sorry for the guard dragons as his insults riled Onyxia up to the point that flames burst from her nozzles with each breath, but this was an opportunity to earn some extra points with the brood mother and he wasn't one to refuse an opportunity to miss such a chance.

" _I think they have underestimated me Lady Onyxia, and I do hate people underestimating me. I know that you wish to deal with them yourself for their insolence, but I think you do not wish to anger your brother for killing your guards, no matter how much they deserve it."_ Even as he spoke, Harry started to channel earthen magic beneath him, a magical aura quickly covering his form even as he remotely activated Nash'ala's portkey, he could apologise for it later.

" _How about I show them why their arrogance is misplaced..."_ Gryffindor's sword in one hand and the elder wand in the other, Harry let out a grin he rarely got to unleash any more, one that promised pain even as diamond armour shifted up from the ground to cover him.

Whether Onyxia would have replied or not Harry didn't know as the smallest of the dragons shot forwards as his armour settled in place, maw open and fire spewing forth to consume him. Before the legion invasion a fully sized dragon attacking him would have unnerved Harry, but now he merely raised his wand with a grin on his face.

"Conjunctivitis!" The blinding spell slammed into the dragon as Harry apparated out of the way of the flames, the dragon not even trying to dodge the spell. It regretted that a moment later as it's eyes swelled up and inflamed, the spell powerful enough to overcome the resistance of the dragon.

As Onyxia didn't know about his earth powers yet, Harry didn't want to give anything away despite her lack of pointed hostility thus far, so it was time to revert to a more 'vanilla' method of combating large creatures. Luckily it was something he had quite a lot of experience with, twisting his wand in a complex pattern as he chanted under his breath for a moment, finishing with a burst of power that alerted all the black dragons to where he had actually gone.

Metal chains, each link thicker and longer than Harry's chest, sprung from the ground and wrapped themselves around three of the four dragons, the golden runes carved into each chain glowing brightly as they began to suck the magic out of the dragons. It was a little practised skill due to the risks involved, but in transfigurations and other visually based spells, if the caster could envision runes on whatever they were transfiguring and provide the power cost then runes could be directly imprinted without the need to add them physically.

In this case the runes Harry had envisioned were the norse runes for magical leeching and strength, the magic removed from the dragons would then be used alongside Harry's own initial input to strengthen the chains to the point the dragons wouldn't be able to break free, something he had been taught by the goblins in preparation for his attack on Azkaban in case the Darkwing dragon caused him trouble or he wanted to capture a large demon for questioning

The scarred dragon was the only one to escape, sending itself aloft with a single swing of it's mighty wings to avoid the chains that flailed ineffectually in his direction. The dragon swooped over towards Harry with incredible speed for its size, firing several small fireballs in an obvious attempt to hem Harry in place so that it could then crush him with it's bulk. With no desire to be stood anywhere near dragon fire, even if it hadn't been aimed directly at him, Harry apparated to the other side of the room once more.

So began a game of cat and mouse, Harry jumping between different points of the room and unleashing spells and conjured weapons at the black dragon whilst Onyxia looked on with obvious amusement. Whilst Harry was slightly tired from the continual apparitions and spell casting, he looked a lot better than the scarred dragon who was suffering several wounds primarily to his wings and belly from transfigured weapons, staring across the chamber at Harry with undisguised hate.

The other dragons were now subdued, their magic removed to the point their movements were sluggish at best, reduced to spectators as Onyxia finally spoke once more.

" _Enough! This human has proved that you cannot complete either of your assigned tasks adequately! I have had to protect the eggs from several of your attacks, despite the human deliberately not going anywhere near them! And given how quickly this one human subdued most of you, I doubt you will fair much better if a host of Stormwind does come looking for vengeance."_ So she caught onto that, always good to see his acts being noticed, especially as it painted him in a very good light.

" _You dare try and order..."_ The scarred dragon got no further as Harry saw Onyxia act seriously for the first time since he had entered the cavern system, moving so quickly the scarred dragon barely reacted before she slammed him into the ground with her forearms.

" _I do not try whelp, I tell you what to do and you will do it! Just because my brother gave you orders to watch me does not mean that you become my keepers..."_ Onyxia paused and she locked eyes with the scarred dragon and Harry suspected that whatever she perceived in the dragon's gaze was not what she wanted to hear as she bodily threw the dragon away from her.

" _Get out! And tell my brother that should he try and cage me again, I will come and take my anger out on his hide personally!"_ So, Harry's suspicion that the guards weren't there merely to guard against intruders might be closer than he thought, though he was surprised that Onyxia let other dragon go rather than killed him as he would have suspected.

" _Let them go terran, I want them out of here as fast as possible, the sight of them sickens me more each second. Then I suggest you leave as well before I truly lose my temper."_ At Onyxia's growled warning/threat, Harry quickly began the spell to undo that held the other three dragons in place, just because they had tried to kill him didn't mean he felt they deserved the wrath of Onyxia.

" _You could have easily killed them, even Firaxion for all his posturing. Perhaps I underestimated you terran..."_ Onyxia's words brought Harry up short, even as the other drakes fled as fast as their depleted energy would allow them.

" _As could you, in fact I am surprised that you did not tear him to pieces for what he has said and done..."_ His question of why she didn't kill this Firaxion was one he felt was better left implied, given what he knew of dragons in general they were very proud creatures and something such as mercy would almost definitely be viewed as a weakness.

" _He will probably not live beyond reporting back to my brother regardless, he does hate it when his 'secret' plans are revealed, but... Regardless, I will now need to be prepared, though they were my brother's pawns they were at least still defending my clutch whilst I slept. I will not have that luxury until my brother now sends some replacements. Farewell Harry Potter, perhaps next time you come to me you can show me your earthen magic skills you have tried so hard to hide from me..."_ Onyxia was definitely not one to reveal her secrets easily as she once again avoided his question, but the offer of another visit showed that she didn't think of him as hostile at least.

The fact that she somehow knew about his Earthen magic surprised him, but his diamond armour had probably been enough of a hint. So Harry found himself in a conundrum, Onyxia had shown considerable honesty to him, or at least had used enough white lies that the truth was far closer to her narrative than it was anything else. But if she had pissed the humans of this world off as much as she claimed she had, then 4 black dragons flying away from the cave would catch the wrong sort of attention, especially with the amount of magic they had unleashed during their brief fight.

So Harry knew if he left things as they were then more people would die, either Onyxia and her clutch, whichever attackers came to investigate or both, and until he could investigate further he could not in good conscience let that happen. His hero persona kicking in, Harry turned back with slight resignation that he could in fact be doing a deal with devil at this stage.

" _Onyxia, if I were to make this place much harder to find for those who might come looking for you, would you agree to a deal?"_ The black dragon matriarch didn't react outwardly but her emotions shifted to confusion, suspicion and... hope?

" _It depends what this deal would cost me, and what protections you would offer to put in place. Whatever barrier you would use would just highlight my presence here and would fall eventually..."_ The idea of a straight up defensive barrier hadn't even crossed Harry's mind, perhaps it was his time at hogwarts but Harry and the others had spent quite some time coming up with his own ways of protecting things...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The big Onyxia meeting has happened at last! I am hoping that everyone won't immediately grab the pitchforks given what I have done, but I will be honest and say I don't particularly care if some people don't like my portrayal of Onxyia's situation.
> 
> Lot's of dialogue this time and I hopefully have avoided the usual trap of 'Harry meets someone and somehow manages to get them to like him straight away.' Onyxia is curious about him and what he has said definitely interests her, but by no means does she trust him...
> 
> What defences might Harry have in mind for Onyxia, I have something already planned but I am interested to see what you guys can think of...
> 
> Review and let me know what you think guys!


	11. Why is a Raven like a writing desk?

Why is a raven like a writing desk? The muggle saying was meant to be a non sequitur to confuse people, but with magic the only difference was a swish and a couple of flicks and jabs. Well in the case of Onyxia's caverns it was a little more complicated than that, but it wasn't that hard to have an illusion ward of a solid rock wall cover the entrance, mixed with sense confusing spells and notice me not wards.

"Lord Potter, explain to me again why we are warding the entrance to a dragon's cave, especially given from your rather brief description her kind are the death eaters of Azeroth. Only these ones can fly and breath fire..." Ah yes, the difficult bit was in trying to convince the head warder of the phantom strike teams on Azeroth that he hadn't gone entirely mad, so that the man would help him with the slightly challenging process of integrating the different wards together.

"Darius, I thought you trusted me by now to make the right decisions..." Harry's attempt to Dumbledore his way out of answering the question posed to him fell completely flat as Darius merely snorted and carried on carving into the rune stone supports that Harry had created.

"That didn't work the first time you tried it on us lord Potter, perhaps in fifty years when you have a long grey beard. Now, what is it that you and her have talked about that has you so interested in her safety?" Darius Heath, former third son of a minor British pure blood family, was a man in his early fifties and very much at odds with what his father might have planned for his 'unnecessary' son.

"Very well, after speaking with Onyxia she has given me some information about my next diplomatic targets that have me more cautious than I was before. And she was honest with me, as far as I can tell without actually establishing a bridge to her mind, a suggestion that would definitely get me back on the 'to eat' list." Darius chuckled as he carried on inscribing the necessary runes into the floor.

"Yes, women seem to be like regardless of which species or world they are from. I'm just glad she can't understand English or I might end up being the one she eats." Probably not given the amount of interest the female dragon was exhibiting, sat right at the edge of the twenty five metres of space that Harry had requested, mostly as given her size her breathing down their necks would be physically uncomfortable rather than the usual mental unease.

"You can worry about that later, though given her interest in us I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't try and learn english at the earliest opportunity. Now, let's see if we can power these wards up..." Darius nodded and quickly added his wand to Harry's, the pair quickly inputting enough magic into the wards to get the intended effect, the cave entrance shimmering for a few moments before shifting into a continuation of the surrounding mountainside.

It was a piece of beauty in all honesty, the wards capable of withstanding large physical attacks due to the sense confusing charms, which would imitate the response a normal attack would have on a mountain. If something would gouge the mountainside, a gouge would appear in the exact spot it was meant to. Even the worn ground, due no doubt to the passage of five dragons, was quickly cloned into non descript ground from an area nearby.

" _Interesting magic mortal, even though I watched the spell take effect I cannot determine any physical sign of the entrance being there."_ Onyxia spoke even as she swooped down to join them, changing form in mid air before tumbling acrobatically to land to Harry's right. She sniffed the air, then closed her eyes for a moment, a pulse of magic erupting from her to envelop the area.

" _Even my magic sensing tells me the only magic on that mountainside is twenty metres to the left of the entrance and faint enough to just be a natural anomaly? How is that possible?"_ So she was impressed then? Always a good start in these situations.

 _"When I said sensory disrupting spells Onyxia I meant all the magical senses as well, how else would we have fooled the Legion for so long? Now, we just need to tie your magical signature into the wards and do the same with the top entrance and you should be safe enough for the time being."_ Onyxia gave a snort at the stating of the obvious he gave, but nodded nevertheless.

" _It is strange, I never thought I would be forming a deal with a mortal race in my true form, especially given said deal is to help evade the machinations of my brother. I think we are about to get our first true test of your little spells Terran, best we complete whatever it is you need before the interlopers arrive..."_ Harry could sense them as well, half a dozen humanoids approaching from the extremes of his senses, probably a scouting party of some kind to investigate the sightings of Black Dragons.

"Scouting Party on their way Darius, so I am going to get Onyxia to transform and then you can tie her to the wards. We have ten minutes before they might be able to see us." And by then, hopefully all they would see is a rocky mountainside on the edge of a swamp, otherwise Harry's hopes of more information from the rather distrusting dragon would be rather rudely cut down...

[]{}#%^*+=

"So you have made a positive impression of us and our intentions to several leaders on this Azeroth, on both sides of this rather un-cold war you have described to us, though perhaps you should have included more of us in this plan of yours than your Strike Force... Companions Mr Potter..." Harry chuckled to himself even as he faced what remained of the ICW through the projector of the portal device, before shrugging a little half heartedly.

"I am honoured my fellow members of the ICW, that you assume the idea for this brilliant plan was my own, you obviously hold me in high esteem." Then, pleasantries aside, Harry decided to remind the 20 odd group of predominantly men the reality of the situation.

"But need I remind you that my group are the ones who have ensured the survival of our race thus far, fighting the Legion alongside our mundane brothers whilst you all tried to bury your heads in the sand, like you have so many times in the past." This was not the first, nor would it be the last time Harry would need to remind the ICW of the realities of the life they now lead.

Many of the ICW members were well over a hundred years old, and therefore whilst not like the British Purebloods with their supremacism and elitism, they had viewed Harry's breaking of the Statute of Secrecy to fight the Legion alongside muggles as a crime similar to a dark lord's. Some had even called for his arrest, somehow prepared to ignore the Legion invasion in place of maintaining what was by then a useless piece of paper.

"The bunkers in which you currently reside; my groups design. The majority of the strike forces that work around the world to try and save what few of our people remain; trained and equipped by my forces. Whilst there were those that proposed we just hide and pretend to be gone in the hopes the demons will go away, even when the world around us dies and we can feel our magic weaken... Well, I think you get the idea why I don't necessarily trust you to actually give us useful or rational help in this regard."

There was the lightest of coughs from off to his left, Blaise's best attempt to inconspicuously tell him he had gone to far, but Harry ignored him even as the ICW broke out into shouting. Members shouted at him; at each other; to aides and advisors stood behind them, leading to a chaotic and incomprehensible rabble.

"ENOUGH!" The bellowed shout almost surprised Harry, as it hadn't come from him or one of his other strike members, the single word enough to quieten down the assembled ICW members. Stood from his seat was Ambassador Hawke, the leader of the American magical survivors, a burly red headed man who was as comfortable with a hunting rifle as he was a wand.

"We did not arrange this meeting for you pureblood pricks to piss around and pretend you have some semblance of authority over what happens here." His glare silenced the few remaining people who might have tried to respond to him.

"Potter, my men have encountered another group of survivors, they are being scanned now and from the sounds of it they are part of a larger group. More importantly, now that your group have let us know what you are doing, what do you need from us?" A small reprimand from the Texan, but Harry didn't care, operational security wasn't his purview, he would love to see Hawke try and stare down Daphne.

"Any of your men you feel are phantom level can form a squad and support our strike teams to capture gates on Earth, but if they are the ones that end up being sent through I need them to respond to orders like they are my phantoms. None of this 'U.S is best' BS that has been a persistent thorn in my side since we rescued you guys." Hawke nodded in understanding though he had only heard the stories, he hadn't been there when Harry had lead the first teams over the Atlantic in search of survivors, equipment and targets.

The first group they encountered after battling their way out of the ruins of the American Ministry building, where they had flooed into after finding one of the fireplaces hadn't been destroyed, reminded Harry that it wasn't just the demons that they needed to be cautious of. The men had been part of a apocalypse ready anti government group who owned a swathe of self made bunkers and, from how they tried to rob Harry's group after finding out they weren't American, they weren't wanting to work together against the demons.

Whilst most of the Americans they had worked with since then had been some of the best people he had ever met, their bad eggs were the ones that could really cause him trouble on Azeroth. If they were that irrationally violent against humans due to things like nationality or skin colour, then the chances of them accepting the many races of Azeroth was unlikely.

"There are a couple of squads I think will feel rather honoured to work with you guys, what's this about the gates? Surely we want to stay the hell away from those things given how they like to spit out hell beasts without any warning." So no one had explained the fact that they were hijacking the demon portals, using portal devices at both ends to create a wormhole between the two?

"Ask Hermione or one of the science team, I understood about one word in three so it will be no use asking me. I have heard about some portal magic that the people here use for transportation that we might be able to use in the future, but I need to do some more research to see if it would be applicable to helping transport you guys across. Anything else?" Whilst Harry could probably have been a little more diplomatic, he had other things on his mind, Hawke shaking his head as the ICW members starting speaking once more.

With that little piece of political drama out of the way Harry tapped a couple of runes on the portal device, switching his view to the main control room, all frustration at the ICW fading as he smiled.

"Hey beautiful..." Ginny Weasley was stood with Ellen, Hermione and Daphne, smiling despite the fact that had made it clear in their last set of messages that she was still mad at him.

"Dammit Harry, I am trying to be mad at you here!" Despite the fact that he was 'involved' with Hermione and Daphne, it had been a long accepted thing that Ginny was the 'alpha' of their little group. Not that he hadn't come to love the others over time of course, but Ginny would always have that little special place in his heart.

"I know you are, and I am sure that when you make it over here you will kick my ass, but I miss you and don't want our first proper trans-world talk to be a fight." Whilst Harry may have originally been absolutely clueless about women, juggling four of them tended to make you learn fast.

"If you don't mind us normal unappreciated women interrupting your sickly sweet bullshit..." Daphne didn't care that she broke the moment, the scarred woman pausing for a moment before sighing in defeat.

"Fine, we miss you, so can we please get to fucking point where you tell us some good news? You left a lot out when talking to those old wankers, not that they probably noticed the senile little..." Hermione spoke up seamlessly as Daphne petered off into her own little rant.

"You know what she really means Harry, just getting it out of her is a little challenging at times. We heard what you've said to the Americans, do you want one of us to come across with the next group to help manage things?" He did, and for more personal reasons than Hermione had just stated, but he knew exactly why he couldn't ask them too either.

"I would love to have you all over on the next run, in fact I wanted to have you all come over with the first gate, but unfortunately we have to think bigger than that, I need you keeping things together on Earth. We have teams out scouring the local area for more portals on brooms, and I've asked our allies to notify us straight away if they discover one, but it will be a slow process..." Hermione nodded, Harry knew she had a better understanding of logistics than he did, they needed to speed things up one way or another.

"Now we know the portal devices work we are working on developing our own portals that we could set up down here, but any information you can gather on the methods the others use would be very helpful, we aren't making much headway yet." So he now had a concrete task to follow up on, though getting hold of that information wouldn't be as easy as it perhaps sounded.

He would worry about that later though, as right now he had more important people to think about...

[]{}#%^*+=

"There they are sisters, wait amongst the crags for when the land stealer tries to double cross us!" Queen Windfury knew that such a slanted view was probably presumptive of her given the land stealers actions thus far, but every other land stealer they had tried to deal with had yet to prove her wrong, and given the excited calls of agreement her sisters agreed.

Still, if this was meant to be some kind of trap she had expected slightly more than three people waiting with Sister Stormfire's young daughter, even if one of them matched the description of the powerful Mage that had so easily downed three of her kin. Swooping in as the dozen warriors she had brought with her settled themselves above, she did her best to remember the land stealer tongue that they used to converse.

"I am here as you requested land stealer, now what demands do you have before you release my kin?" She wanted to leap across and attack him for downing and then chaining one of her little hatchlings, but she was old enough and experienced enough to ignore the flaming desire for the time being, though she did dig her talons into the ground as a way of diverting some of her anger.

"My Queen!" Stormfire's calm but happy greeting surprised her, given her captivity Windfury assumed that Stormfire's rage would be incessant and overpowering her usual instincts, obviously her time in the land stealers hands had not been as painful as so many of her sisters had been forced to suffer through.

"Queen Windfury, I am Nash'ala and this is Harry Potter of the Terrans along with his mate, I will act as translator as Harry has not yet mastered the common tongue..." The Naga's speech surprised Windfury further, she had assumed that the Naga had been another captive or a mere pet, her surprise obviously reaching her face as the human male chuckled a moment later and _hissed_ something that caused Nash'ala to turn and hiss something back before nodding.

"Regardless of what you think Queen Windfury, Harry does not make a habit of kidnapping people for selfish reasons, in fact if the risk of you trying to attack us hadn't been so great we would have released your kin after healing her injuries. But the stories of Harpy swarms attacking and ransacking settlements out of the blue are a little too well known for us to risk a similar attack on us, so we thought negotiating with..." Windfury had heard enough, beating her wings in anger as she slammed one talon into the ground.

"So you enslave one of my sisters in your desire for peace? I think you claim much in the way of 'diplomacy' manthing, but you are just like all the others whose honeyed words belay their evil deeds, your attempts to manipulate us end here." She prepared to take flight and unleash the fury that had been building inside of her since she had first laid eyes upon these interlopers, when the human male unhooked the long and ragged black cloak that he had on, the expression of rage on his face unnerving her before she was hit by his magic.

Windfury wasn't a particularly good sensor, she preferred to rely on her other senses, but the sheer strength of the man's magic engulfed her like a hurricane upon an ill prepared nest. The air felt heavier than water and the temperature dropped to the point that if she wasn't already shivering with fear then she would be to try and keep warm. How had he hidden such power before now?

"You dare accuse me of manipulation and lying to you... You know nothing about me Harpy, if you did you would know I have maimed people for insulting me as such before, and that is ignoring the fact that you brought some of your kin to try and ambush us..." The strength of the magic wasn't what had Windfury regretting her earlier attempt to anger the land stealer, instead it was the emotions and feelings the magic brought with it that had her on the verge of trying to flee.

It was fear on a level that she had only encountered once before, as a hatchling, when she had fallen from her nest at only a few weeks old. The feeling of complete helplessness as death reached out to grasp her was something she had hoped to never feel again, but given the land stealer's rage it might well be the last thing she felt in this world.

"I had my childhood taken from me by the manipulations of old men, twisted to become a martyr for a race of people who were more than happy to let a child do their dirty work for them, all because I was 'chosen' by Prophecy..." The Naga woman seemed frozen like she was, head fin twitching uncontrollably in a manner that made it clear that she had not encountered this kind of display before either, though the human woman seemed mostly unaffected apart from a small frown that was slowly deepening on her face.

"I lost friends and loved ones for 'the greater good' and watched as a man prepared to wipe out thousands of people because they weren't 'pure'. I have seen my world burn and it's people slaughtered by the Burning Legion. I have fought demons and devils whose power far outstrips your own, and you think I am being diplomatic because I want to ENSLAVE YOU!" The human's words took several precious seconds to sink in and for Windfury to comprehend them, her mind stuck on the fact that each and every moment could well be her last if she so much as breathed wrong, when her saviour came from an unexpected source.

"My lord, please don't hurt her, if you are correct about our curse than given our history with land stealers she could have said far worse..." Stormfire's rather impassioned request seemed to combine with the human woman putting a hand to the mage's shoulder, though he flinched at something and the pervading feeling of imminent death slowly started to fade from Windfury's senses.

"Stormfire, I am not your lord, I am nobody's lord..." It was surprising, the level of distaste that entered the man's voice at the title he had been given by her younger kin, the mage then taking a deep breath before sighing and flicking his hand.

The tattered cloak rippled up from the floor and reattached itself to his shoulders and chest without a sound, his magic disappearing almost entirely the moment it did so, the mage then surprising Windfury by stepping forwards and offering a hand to her. It was only as he seemed to tower over her that Windfury realised she had at some point fallen to one knee, probably during the initial unleashing of his power.

"S-such power, why not just unleash that power at the start of our talks la-human?" The slight tremble in Windfury's voice made her angry internally, but fear of the man who had shown he had enough power to destroy her and her flight quickly squashed it before it could become an issue once more, taking his hand cautiously and allowing him to pull her up.

"Because I came here to negotiate with a group of intelligent beings and to try and work out a beneficial agreement between us, not to force you into an agreement through fear of destruction, I have seen far too much of that to stoop to that level..." Looking down at where the mage's hand was still joined with her own, Windfury felt a strange emotion build up inside her, her mouth tilting upwards into an expression she had seen land stealers call a smile before what Stormfire and the mage said brought her back to where they were and what they were meant to be doing...

"So, Harry Potter, what is this young Stormfire means when she talks about a curse?"

*Line Break*

The malice was stifling in the large throne room on top of Blackrock mountain, three of the black drakes who had been Onyxia's guards stood as still as they possibly could, whilst their liege tore his jaws from the neck of Firaxion and growled in frustration.

" **You mean to tell me that not only does my** _ **dear**_ **sister now suspect that you were there to mind her, but you now have let her disappear due to your incompetence?"** The three drakes looked at each other for a moment, before the smallest was shoved forwards unceremoniously, twitching uncomfortably as he tried to work out how best to maximise his chances of avoiding Nefarion's wrath.

"My lord, it is not that she disappeared that is the problem, but the caverns she uses to contain her eggs... We cannot find it." Nefarion's face contorted into a snarl and the drake flinched as the black Dragon snapped towards him, expecting the end as had happened with Firaxion minutes before.

" **Interesting... My sister is no master of illusion magics, especially of such a scale to completely hide a cavern, even from you idiots."** Realising that he was still alive, the drake opened his eyes to find Nefarion eying him with something that could be considered interest in any other creature, though Nefarion merely looked... Hungry.

" **You tell me that she was meeting with a... Human before you fled, a Mage who managed to make a fool of all four of you."** A talon lunged forwards, grasping the drake by the neck and hoisting it in the air with the ease of a human picking up an irritating child.

" **Tell me of this human... He sounds very interesting."**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! Phew this chapter was hard work, it is part of the challenge going from a universe that I do know a lot about (HP) to a universe that I know practically nothing about.
> 
> Still this chapter shows that Harry has a bit more bite to him than has been previously seen, especially with those amongst the Terran survivors that remind him a little too much of Dumbledore.
> 
> Yes, this Harry holds a grudge against Dumbledore, both for turning him into a martyr and also for not training him at all, which would have been a big boon for his post Hogwarts years..
> 
> Let me know what you think everyone, and Merry Christmas again to one and all.


	12. Chapter 12

"Welcome back Coira, I hope you didn't have much trouble getting back here..." Given the vast openness of Desolace, it hadn't been difficult for the guard on duty to spot the lone rider approaching on horseback, even with their attempts to remain relatively stealthy so as to avoid the attentions of the warring centaur groups.

Unsure of who it was, Harry and Nashala had both headed to the gate to greet them, despite the fact that Harry and the others could now use their translation charms to speak Azerothian the young Naga still insisted on accompanying him where ever possible to allow him to use the translation rune for such interactions. Given the Naga's insecurities and lack of other options, such determination and dedication was understandable even to Susan and his better halves, most of whom had struck up a decent friendship with Nashala over the portal device communicator.

"There is an Alliance outpost near here, and despite our past differences Blood Elves are still welcome in such areas..." The fact that such hospitality might change in the coming months, with the Blood Elves somewhat unofficial alignment with the Horde, went unsaid before Coira looked over his shoulder and whistled appreciatively.

"I like what you have done with the place, I'm surprised you don't have every centaur in Desolace sieging here." Given the Terrans magical abilities, as well as his own vaunted elemental powers, it had not taken them long to redesign the layout of the former cultist lair as well as expand it into a proper fortified base.

The original wall had been transfigured and reinforced so that it was almost 11 metres high and three metres thick, capable of withstanding the attentions of a giant like Grawp for at least a couple of minutes if need be, though Harry and the others still weren't quite sure of what sort of siege equipment the Azerothian races possessed and whether the wall by itself would be enough.

Which was why he had constructed the second wall outside the first, surrounding both walls with moats that were almost 10 feet deep and filling them with earthen spikes. Given the Terran's ability to apparate, they could easily fall back from the first wall to the second in a moment, so they hadn't bothered with connecting the two walls as that would only aid potential attackers.

"They tried at first, but when we vanished the causeway to the gate they really didn't have a good avenue of attack, and after 6 hours of us ignoring them they started infighting again." A few confundus charms thrown out over the wall may have assisted in the centaur force turning on themselves, but given what the Terran's had discovered about Centaur culture thus far, that tactic had only expedited the inevitable.

"Ignoring the centaur? I don't think I have ever heard of that tactic before, but I can see why it would work in the short term. Still, I know there were a few scouts tracking me, so perhaps we should continue our discussion inside?" Harry nodded, before turning to walk back across the causeway, Coira dismounting and leading her horse with practiced ease as her eyes took in the interior of the outer wall.

To the left hand side of the makeshift road the space had been flattened and turned into a training area, so that the strike teams could keep up their fitness whilst waiting for missions, complete with transfigured obstacle course and animated targets for spell practice. Harry saw Coira cast a calculated glance over the equipment before her attention was taken by the greenery that enveloped the interior on the right hand side.

"Like what we've done with the place?" Looking towards the rapidly growing plants that were littered across the once barren ground in what seemed to be a disorganised mess, Harry saw Coira allow a little bit of a shocked stare slip through her usual facade, even as the man referred to commonly as the 'plant lover' of the Phantoms approached with his usual cheerful smile on his face.

"But, but this was barren lands only a few weeks ago..." The slight stutter was Coira's equivalent of a normal person's shocked exclamation, Harry generously not ribbing her on it as he extended his right hand to grip Neville Longbottom's sole hand firmly.

"Coira, meet Neville Longbottom, our resident herbology expert and the sole reason we survived on Earth long enough to get here." The well tanned and much less doughy young man blushed slightly under the praise, but the loss of his left arm in one of the skirmishes around Manchester after 3 years experience fighting with the strike force had put some backbone in the once easily flustered boy.

Either that or it was his wife Hannah, but Harry was happy enough with the change not to try and find out how whipped his old friend actually was. Hannah was helping the others run things back on Earth for now, logistically there had been more vital members to bring across to Azeroth, even if Harry had felt guilty splitting the two of them up for the moment after they had only tied the knot 6 months before he used the portal.

"Well, not all of us can run around meeting ancient dragons and trying to emulate Dumbledore's best 'all knowing' look whilst coming up with half baked schemes, someone has to do the boring everyday things like farming now and again." The joke would have been great if it had just been amongst the phantoms, but Harry only just managed to suppress his wince as Coira looked in his direction, eyebrow raised in obvious question.

"Ancient dragons? You've met members of the five aspects already?" Neville realised his blunder but Harry managed to prevent him from making the situation worse with a single glance to shut him up whilst he ran damage control.

"Yes, a few drakes from the Black Dragonflight. We didn't get along and I sent them back to their master bloody and bruised." Coira didn't entirely buy his story, even if it was entirely true, but to her credit she didn't openly call him out on the matter despite her emotional urge to do so obvious to Harry's senses.

"Really? You are more powerful than I thought if you are capable of beating several dragons at once. I hope you will give me a proper demonstration of all your skills sometime." It was subtle, in comparison to some of the women he had dealt with in the past at least, but the tone of Coira's voice along with the subtle grasping on his arm made alarm bells start ringing in Harry's head.

Contrary to his girl's opinion he wasn't clueless when others were trying to seduce him, something he was glad about as it allowed him to tell if someone was trying to take advantage of him using their 'assets' as Daphne so politely termed it. But for the most part, Harry found playing the clueless man helped in all but the most overt of cases.

"I am sure from your descriptions of Silvermoon city and the surrounding area there will be enemies that I will need to go all out on soon enough Coira. Still, that is something for another time, I assume you will wish to rest before we hearthstone back to Silvermoon?" She cast him a barely noticeable pout at his 'obliviousness' before having to bite back a yawn.

"If I could Harry, though I think dinner would be better first given that I haven't eaten for at least 8 hours." She paused, looking uncertainly at him in a manner that was very much at odds with her usual antics, but she had done it enough times for Harry to know what she wanted.

"Here..." The woman caught the enchanted trinket with a smile so greedy he was surprised she didn't devour the bracelets magic there and then.

However, she seemed happy enough merely to have the item in her possession for the moment, slipping it into one of her hip pouches before slipping back to her usual saucy demeanour.

"Thanks Harry, I will make it up to you _somehow_..." The inflection was so heavy that Harry was surprised the air itself didn't shift under its weight, though he was saved the need to act oblivious again by a familiar voice speaking up from behind them.

"I would be more concerned with making sure you get to interact with Harry ever again first, and for that there are some other people who need to talk to you..." Susan was stood at the gate as her voice carried across to them, set in an angry stance and with wand drawn in Coira's direction.

Whilst Susan was the most promiscuous of his lovers by far, she also had a jealous protective streak where he was concerned that even Ginny was scared of at times. There had been more than one case of curses being thrown when a woman had gotten a little too close in flirting with Harry, which was why he was now regretting not expanding on his status before Coira had headed off to Silvermoon city. Given Kelanas was stood just behind Susan with an amused grin on her face, he assumed she had something to do with his other half's appearance at what was possibly the worst possible time.

"Coira, may I introduce you to Lady Susan Bones, one of my wives..." Despite her best attempt to maintain her sultry and cheerful manner, Harry couldn't help but notice that one of Coira's hands had slipped to her hip where she stored her hearthstone as she bowed in a very deferential manner to the irate redhead.

"Lady Bones, I don't suppose just grovelling is going to be enough here is it?" Normally Harry would have taken the statement as Coira's attempt to use humour to diffuse the situation, but there was an uncertainty in her tone that made it clear she was asking the question seriously as Susan eyed her up whilst clearly doing her best to reign in her temper.

"Susan, take her to see the others, I think I have an idea why you are angry and if that is the case the others should get the chance to talk to Coira as well before you decide what to do next..." Susan and the others knew that his cluelessness was somewhat an act now, so pretending to have not noticed Coira's actions would only have gotten him in trouble as well.

As Coira threw him a betrayed look, Harry rationalised that she would probably thank him for it later, the others were far more forgiving for first infractions than Susan was and would probably be able to calm the hot blooded witch down from cursing to something else.

"Damn, I suppose you're right Harry, I was looking forward to taking advantage of this a little longer by myself first. Coira was it?" At Coira's quick nod Susan gestured back towards the main body of the fortress with a wicked grin on her face.

"I'd get working on your best apologies now, and if you grovel enough to me by the time we get there I might even tell the truth about what I just saw happen instead of embellishing things..." Susan probably wouldn't have lied about things even if Coira didn't butter her up, she wasn't like that, but Harry got the suspicion that having a beautiful alien woman at her mercy was really exciting the bi-sexual even if she wouldn't admit it.

" _Harry, is Coira going to be okay? I don't think I have ever seen Lady Bones so angry..._ " Nashala's comment in parseltongue made Harry chuckle even as he watched Coira follow Susan towards the main fortress whilst throwing him pleading looks over his shoulders, Nashala probably didn't remember that Susan had been similarly jealous when she had first understood quite how closely the Naga was sticking to 'her man'.

In Nashala's case though Harry had taken the time to explain the situation to his wife in detail before the two were formally introduced, meaning that he had taken the brunt of Susan's anger for 'leading the young girl on.' What she was talking about Harry had no idea, but the fact that Nashala was deferential to all four of his wives probably also helped in smoothing the introductions out.

"She will be fine, Susan never leaves lasting injuries..." Seeing that his comment had done nothing to reassure the young Naga, he instead focussed on something else Coira had mentioned that he could distract her with.

"Besides, she mentioned an Alliance outpost near here, so it would probably be diplomatically prudent for us to go and introduce ourselves..." The fact that such a distraction would mean he was unobtainable if Coira tried to drop him in it for her actions went unsaid, though given the look Neville shot him before turning away shaking his head it was understood by at least one of the people listening.

"It is only a short distance away to the North East, we might have difficulty reaching it on land without centaur interference. Would you like me to accompany you Harry?" Kelanas' offer was appreciated, as an alliance member would definitely help him deal with the potential hostility that came with Nashala's presence, and she also made a good point about the Centaur.

Luckily, given what else had arrived in the latest portal transfer, Harry had no intention of going anywhere via land right now...

!"£$%^&*()

"Dragon!" The call was met with silence for a few moments, everyone struggling to comprehend the warning that had been shouted before their instincts forced their brains into overdrive.

"Of all bloody days to get stuck in this death trap..." Storri Ironfist's reaction was a lot less panicked than the terrified flurries of activity from the people surrounding him, downing what was left of his tankard in a rapid gulp before slamming it into the table and jumping down from the human sized bar stool he had been forced to utilise.

He had been here as a favour to the outpost's commander, who had been having trouble with the local Quillboars and needed an experienced hunter to find their camp and thin their numbers a little. He'd managed to kill off their largest war party through a mixture of traps, poison and sniping with his trusty crossbow, and had collected his reward only to find out that there were no available Griffins for him to use as transport to get out of Nigel's point until the next day.

Hefting his crossbow from his back and shouldering past two of the civilians that were currently floundering like lost Murlocs during hunting season, Storri glanced out of one of the pubs small, murky windows to see if he could catch sight of the dreaded beast whose race were synonymous with death and bad news these days.

"No sign of the beast from here..." He mused as he turned away from the window and headed towards the door, staring down the civilians that were attempting to barricade the damn thing into letting him past. If the damn dragon was hostile, what did those idiots think a wooden barricade was going to do? It could breath fire! By the ancestors, he was glad he didn't have to deal with this idiocy all of the time.

Now he was outside he could see the actual competent people of the outpost readying weapons, and judging by the fact they were all moving towards the south entrance Storri assumed that was where the dragon had been sighted. It was tempting to head North, get out of the outpost in case the dragon did decide it wanted to roast the place, it would be easier to evade the damn thing amongst the mountain passes to the north of here rather than in the open plains of Desolace.

But... If he did that he wouldn't be able to make easy gold coming back here for hunting work until somebody built up the courage to repopulate the place again, and it would cost him one of the few people he could actually put up with on a regular basis in all likelihood.

"Bronzebeard damn it all..." Swivelling towards the south, Storri found himself looking at the amused expression of Captain Pentigast, the leader of Nijel's Point's Alliance military forces and the man that Storri begrudgingly called his friend.

"Glad to see you have something resembling honour in that golden greed filled heart of yours Ironfist..." Storri just about resisted the urge to growl, settling for a glare that promised pain if Pentigast carried on trying to irritate him.

"You better hope the dragon kills us Anduan, because if it doesn't I may do so for slighting my personal honour. Now, let's get to the walls, as much good as they will do us against such a beast." Given the scaly hide, foot long razor sharp teeth and fire breath, the chances of any of them walking away from this was small if it was even a moderately large drake.

If the beast was a full blown dragon... Storri's thoughts caught in his throat as he caught sight of the dragon for the first time, the thing flying down from the west and off to the south in the time it took for him to register its appearance, before chuckling to himself.

"It's fast, I give it that, but that thing is barely a young drake, hardly worth sending all the traders into a panic over..." Pentigast chuckled, in the age old manner of knowing something Storri didn't, the pair of them reaching the outposts main gate where half a dozen human guardsmen and a single night elf priestess were stood.

"The call wasn't for the actual Dragon, it was to ensure that the non-combatants stayed out of the way for this next part. As to the real reason, let me introduce Kelanas Windflower, envoy from High Priestess Tyrande and the one who has asked for this little exercise." The night elf, young for her station but otherwise combat ready, bowed slightly and smiled in the typical priestly manner.

"Apologies master Dwarf, I was originally here to arrange a meeting in neutral territory for Captain Pentigast, but he mentioned there was a close friend of the Dwarf King out here on a mission who he thought might also benefit from an introduction as well. I did not realise what his plan was until he instructed me to bring the dragon into land." It was at times like this Storri hated Dwarven politics, you save the King in battle ONE time...

"Wait, what do you mean 'called the dragon into land?' Are you next going to claim you have conversed with the damned black dragonflight and gotten them to admit all past faults as their own?" His annoyance at Anduan at revealing his unwanted connections to royalty, was overcome by the ludicrousness of the elfs statement, even as he felt a cold chill rise on the back of his neck.

The gates began to open, and Storri realised slightly belatedly that none of the guards were utilising the mechanism in place for such a task.

"Apologies Master Ironfist for the confusion, but I did not wish to ruin the surprise..." As the gate opened far enough to let a wagon in, Storri caught sight of the black scaled Dragon now perched less than 30 feet away from him, the things eyes meeting his own for a few seconds before dismissing him with a huff.

It was a small thing, probably not much larger than a hippogriff if you ignored the things barbed tail, definitely built for speed rather than toughness, as most the aspects leaned towards these days. His eyes very quickly shifted from the dragon however, as the _human_ that was clearly riding the damn thing gave a cheeky wave before dismounting with a leap that somehow was efficient and flashy at the same time, extending his hand up to support a clearly terrified _Naga_ sea witch from where she was clinging as best she could to the things back.

"May I introduce Lord Harry Potter and his assistant Nash'ala, exile of the Vash sect. I would introduce you to the dragon as well, but he doesn't seem interested in conversation right now..." Even as he did his best not to draw his crossbow at the sight of the usually murderous sea denizen, Storri knew there was only one sentiment that truly described his current feelings on the matter.

"I've definitely not had enough to drink yet for this..." Even as Captain Pentigast laughed at his plight, Storri did his best to ignore the urge to punch himself in the face, even if this was obviously one of those dreams induced by the shitty ale the inn claimed was 'alcohol'...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Another short one I know, but if I were to try and write a 10+k chapter for this story now I don't think I would ever really finish it, so sorry but it's better than nothing right? So we have had Coira return to the group, though her flirtations haven't gone over well with Susan at all (quite a lot of polyamorous stories seem to have all the girls being fine with other girl's flirting with their lovers/joining the group, not happening here if I can avoid it...)
> 
> However, for all her opposition, we will see if Coira can 'work' on Susan and 'improve her chances', especially if her source of lovely magic is on the line.
> 
> Regarding Storri, he is another OC I am afraid, heralding from another of my stories and will form Harry's initial contact with the Alliance other than the Night Elves. He will provide a rather more cynical view of things that Harry encounters, but is also something of an obvious effort to actually include some non-women in Harry's party... :P
> 
> Lastly, what did we think of Neville? I will expand somewhat further on events on Earth in the 'between years' in the coming chapter, but I like to think that despite some extra confidence he is still the same Neville we know and love.
> 
> So, next chapter we head off to Silvermoon, so if anyone knows any interesting lore/quests for the area I can have Harry wade into let me know (If you already have in previous PM's let me know and I will have a look back through them all.)
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed it, review and I will see you next time.


	13. A New Continent awaits

"Why are you still wearing that cloak human? It's as hot as an Ironforge forge out here, and there isn't even any decent beer to take your mind off it for a few minutes..." If Harry wanted to stereotype what he thought a Dwarf would be like, Storri Ironfist wouldn't have been more than a couple of yards from what he envisioned.

Given Captain Pentigast's concerns about how the rest of Nijel's Point may react to both Nash'ala and Sirius, named in honour of his godfather despite how differently the dragon acted from its namesake at times, Harry had kept the introduction brief before inviting the pair of them back to Terra's Point. Captain Pentigast had politely declined given the amount of work that would be involved in sorting out the aftermath of their ruse, but Storri had been more than happy to visit the fortress, though it was only once they arrived and the Dwarf recovered from his inertia that it became clear  _why_.

"Due to several items that have claimed me as their owner, the 'feel' of my magic is unsettling for people who are not used to it, and given the trouble this world has with undead and Necromancers I do not want to give people the wrong idea. Now, is there anything else you think we need to alter about the gatehouse? Or is it now passable?" It turned out that Dwarves took great pride in their ability assess and find weaknesses in constructions of all kinds, and the chance for Storri to offer his opinions on the Terran's new base of operations before any other Dwarf was something he could brag about later, if he found and fixed most of the faults.

"The angles of the walls are still wrong and I would suggest hiring a good Dwarven crew to tear the damn thing down and rebuild it rather than using your fancy magic, but I suppose I have seen worse defences in my time manling." Despite the fact Storri then carried on talking Harry released his magic from the translation rune, Nash'ala visibly relaxing as the straining feeling slowly battering the inside of his skull lessened to a dull ache.

Harry had only activated it in order to make rectifying the errors the Dwarf pointed out in his earthworks easier, and that was over an hour ago!

If it hadn't been for the repeated use over the last few months then the pain would have been too much to ignore. Indicating to Nashala that she should let Storri know that he had cancelled the translation spell, Harry was pleased to find he still recognised some of the smaller words Storri was using, the secondary effect of the rune spell a boon that would eventually make him able to converse in Azeroth's common tongue without burdening Nashala as he did now.

Nashala's polite interruption caused Storri to jump slightly before he gave the Naga a rough smile and continued, the Dwarf had his reservations about Nashala still but was doing a remarkable job of holding his tongue about it so far. Whether that was due to his experiences during the demon invasion of working with races he would normally consider enemies, or the fact that Nashala's presence wasn't at the top of the Dwarf's concerns in comparison to the revelations of Harry's origins he wasn't sure, but it was something that Harry appreciated even if Nashala didn't seem to notice.

" _Expecto patronum."_ With a mutter and wave of his hand a familiar stag appeared in glimmering white and silver, though it was intentionally only the size of his fist, as a messenger being the size of a car wasn't subtle and also a waste of magical energy for what was a simple task.

"Susan, we're ready here, let me know when you are done with Coira and we can head off to Silvermoon." By the time they had returned the night before Susan and Coira had taken the portal device to Susan's room and clearly set themselves up for the night, his attempt to make sure Susan hadn't gone too far politely but firmly rebuffed by a rather red in the face Coira at the door.

Harry didn't know, but it wasn't exactly an educated sixth sense telling him that Susan was planning on holding the flirting incident over Coira's head in more ways than one. He hadn't seen either of them since, but given he had spent most of the morning being badgered by Storri that wasn't much of a surprise, though chances are he was in trouble with both of them over this one way or another. With another wave Harry sent the Patronus off in search of its target, Storri pausing for a moment as he conversed with Nashala to watch it climb towards the central keep of Terra's Point.

" _Harry, Master Storri asks what your plans are regarding your time after visiting Silvermoon? He says he will relay your message to the King, but he advises that a personal visit to see the Dwarf Council would go a long way to improving the chances of a positive response to aiding your people."_  Storri hadn't said it exactly like that, the Dwarf was far too much like Harry to have termed such an informal request so politely, but Nashala was too mild mannered to use the words that Storri no doubt used in reference to the Dwarves that made up this council he was talking about.

" _I plan on spending a week in Silvermoon City, as I'm hoping the Blood Elves will have some knowledge on portals that I can pass back to the other Terrans to aid in our arrival. Then I was planning on taking Sylvanas up on her request to visit the Undercity before moving south, so it would probably be a month or so before I would be able to make it to Ironforge."_ That was if he wasn't delayed on his explorations, but it wasn't as if Storri's question was unexpected, so Blaise and Susan had discussed it with him before the Slytherin left to hold court with Tyrande and the rest of the Council of Elune.

Given the Night Elves were still their closest potential allies, despite the clear hostility from Fandral and the other Druids under his influence, the need to have a constant presence in Teldrassil was vital to maintaining and improving that relationship. Susan had offered to go, given the Council of Elune was made up of almost entirely women, but Blaise had been quick to argue that the relationship with that particular Council wasn't the issue that needed addressing.

Even if some of the Druids followed Fandral's lead, from what they had been told there were a large number that were either neutral or still loyal to Archdruid Stormrage. And until Malfurion returned, these Druids were the ones who would need to be persuaded that an alliance with the Terrans would be advantageous, their voices of dissent far more dangerous to Fandral's ambitions than those of the other Night Elves as they would disrupt his power base. And as much as Susan was no amateur when it came to politics, when it came to such maneuvers Blake was far more, well the word Blake used was adept but Harry had several other far less eloquent and polite words he felt were far more accurate.

Storri seemed happy with his response via Nashala, the grumbling speech he gave seemingly full of contempt on the surface, but to Harry it was clear he was complaining about whatever it was because it was fun rather than he actually meant it.

" _Storri requests to accompany us to Silvermoon, as it will be far easier for him to get transport directly to Ironforge from there rather than 'this ancestor forsaken pit'."_ Harry could only assume that the Dwarf had said several other things given the length of his grumble, but he was distracted by the appearance of a robin Patronus, that flew around him twice before settling on his left shoulder.

"We will be down in fifteen minutes, I just need to give Coira some last minute... instructions. Make sure you grab a wrist mirror from the armoury, and remember that Stormfire wanted to speak to you on behalf of her people before you left." Susan as usual left everything to the imagination regarding what was going on between her and their Blood Elf ambassador, Harry just hoped that it wouldn't come back to bite him with them going to Silvermoon.

She had a point about the wrist mirror though, he had forgotten about grabbing one, despite the fact they would have been very useful regarding Zmodlor and Onxyia. Best he grab them now before he got in trouble for losing contact with them for a month, especially as he still needed to instruct Nash'ala in how to use the one he was going to give to her. It wasn't a long walk from the armoury to the 'nest' they had set up in the aftermath of his negotiations with the Harpies, so he could visit their newest 'Ambassador' as well before apparating back.

" _Storri can come with us to Silvermoon, though he will need to understand that whilst in Silvermoon City he will be considered a Terran, as he is arriving with us on a diplomatic visit."_ Which was a polite a way of Harry telling the Dwarf he would need to behave, whilst Regent Loth'mar wouldn't actually hold the abrasive Dwarf's behaviour against him and the other Terrans, that didn't mean the general population of Silvermoon City wouldn't.

Nash'ala nodded and quickly relayed that to Storri, who chuckled before catching Harry's serious expression and nodding, even if he was a bit grumpy about the idea based on his emotions. With the Dwarf returning his attention to checking his equipment for the trip ahead, Harry motioned Nash'ala to follow him back inside the fort. Whilst Storri may have been comfortable waiting where he was, Harry preferred not to fight the centaur hordes again if he could avoid it.

" _We need to head to the armoury, there is a device I need to teach you how to use before we leave for Silvermoon City."_  It was a credit to Nash'ala's faith in him that she didn't question him in the slightest about what the item was, the Naga merely slithering alongside him as he walked with a small smile on her face.

Harry had to admit that Nash'ala had certainly bloomed since he had rescued her from the Legion almost three months ago, her scales on her serpentine lower body now a deep coral green that gleamed even in the arid and harsh conditions of Desolace. In addition, she had grown out from her almost underfed body structure, her humanoid arms now showing a buildup of muscle from using her bow whilst her tail had grown by at least half a foot in length. Even her plumage had developed on the diet of good food and the adventurous, active lifestyle she now led, golden flecks and the odd silver outline adding additional depth to her already vibrant head fin.

" _Harry? Is everything okay?"_ Nash'ala's question echoed the shyness in her posture, as Harry realised he had been looking at her as they walked for  _far_  too long, causing him to look away as he felt the slight redness of his cheeks. Even with all of his experience with women, something about Nash'ala's innocence and unerring faith made him feel like a blushing schoolboy again.

" _Sorry, got lost in my thoughts. We've managed to come a long way in a short amount of time haven't we?"_  It was something Harry had been stressing with the other Phantoms since they had first started transitioning from Earth, Nash'ala was one of them as far as he was concerned, and anyone who felt otherwise could take it up with him personally.

Nash'ala seemed surprised by the question, and he could tell she still wasn't used to his informal references to her being an integral part of their group, her two humanoid hands fretted for a moment before she realised what she was doing and pulled them apart to hang awkwardly at her sides. Harry chuckled to himself at the reaction, though he was slightly surprised when she moved closer to him a moment later, wrapping her arm around his lightly.

" _You have Harry, and I will never be able to repay you for trusting me as you did. All the trouble siding with me against the Night Elves could have caused you and you did it without a thought, that is more kindness than anyone has shown me in… well forever. Lady Susan has told me that you are like that, referencing something about a 'White Knight' that I did not fully understand, but she seemed to understand that didn't change the enormity of what you have done for me._ "

That sounded ominous, especially as Harry didn't remember a time in the last couple of days that Nash'ala and Susan had met with him, meaning it was a meeting that either had happened a while ago or with Susan deliberately not telling him about it.

" _Nobody deserves to be judged by things they cannot control Nash'ala, I'm sure Susan and the others can tell you some stories of my childhood at some stage to make it clear, I understand that kind of persecution far too well to let myself fall into the same bad habits. And don't sell yourself short, I know for a fact that you have been changing some of my more… provocative statements during our discussions with many groups into something that is far more diplomatic and less likely to get us killed."_

His humoured revelation, that he knew she had been diplomatic with her translations to some of their more aggravating contacts amongst the Alliance and Horde forces, got the desired reaction as her skin flushed vividly and her red head fin turned scarlet.

Harry used the grip she had inadvertently given him by joining their arms to prevent her from trying to distance herself in her embarrassment, dropping a quick glare at a pair of laughing Phantom's who were watching as they reached the storehouse they had turned into an improvised armoury. The two women quickly found other things to distract them with and Harry turned back to Nash'ala, who had given up trying to wriggle her arm free and was now looking at him with a guilty expression on her face that fit her remarkably well.

" _I'm sorry? It's just there were some things that you said that could be taken in the wrong context… Or the right context given how angry you were at the Archdruid in Teldrassil. I won't do it any more I promise…"_  Harry released her arm, only to elicit a small shocked sound from Nash'ala a moment later as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, only just avoiding an reflexive swipe of her claw arm as he did so.

" _You do realise Blaise would kill me if I tried to make you stop? As far as he is concerned I should let you do ALL the talking, less chance of me 'starting a war before everyone's even arrived'. You just need to give me some lessons in private after each meeting so that I start talking like you do, then you wouldn't need to smooth out my bad habits."_  Harry was surprised when the attempted joke/approval of her actions didn't produce the relief he expected, Nash'ala freezing in place for a moment before a surge of embarrassment almost burst out of her pores, reducing her to a stuttering mess in his one armed hug.

It took a moment before Harry put the dots together, when he remembered what he and Susan had gotten up to during their 'etiquette and language' lessons after their relationship began, and judging by some of Nash'ala's incoherent mutterings it had been the redhead who had put those particular thoughts in the Naga's head. Doing his best to work out how to make it clear that such things weren't what he had meant, without upsetting the Naga or potentially pissing off Susan, left Harry with a single thought as they entered the armoury.

Damn it Susan!

!"£$%^&*()_+

Nash'ala had never felt so embarrassed in her life! Admittedly it was her own fault for the most part, when Harry had rather nicely given her the opportunity to be useful by teaching him Azerothian customs, her mind had treacherously gone back to the conversation she had with his wife and the mental images the woman had been only too eager to evoke in her mind.

Thankfully Harry had been impossibly kind and not asked her about mental breakdown, instead leading her to a section of the warehouse that she had not been to before, where several rather large bracelets were resting on one of the long tables that the Terran's had  _conjured_  from a few dead trees! It was times like this Nash'ala hated herself for her cowardice, as she was sure that Harry and the others would be happy to teach her some of their wonderful spells if she was able to access her magic.

But if she asked, Nash'ala dreaded that Harry would be unable to do anything to release her from her bindings, and having revealed her weakness he would eventually replace her with someone more useful. It was irrational, given all that Harry had already done for her, but knowing that didn't ease the worry in her heart.

" _Nash'ala, are you okay?"_ Harry's question shook her from her melancholy, and with a jolt she remembered that she was currently getting all worked up next to the man who made sensing such emotions easier than spotting the rather obvious attraction that Coira had for him.

" _Sorry Harry, just got lost in my memories for a moment there. So what are these mirror things, and why do we need them?"_ Parroting back Harry's excuse for when he had been staring at her earlier, something that still brought a light blush to her cheeks, Nash'ala giggled at his questioning raised eyebrow that indicated he had caught her cheekiness.

" _These are communication mirrors, which will allow us to talk to the team's here at Terra's Point whilst we are travelling in Silvermoon and the other cities of Azeroth. I thought it best to teach you how to use these before we head over there, last thing we would want is for you to be trying to learn how these work whilst I'm off doing something stupid."_ Harry gave a small laugh at this, and Nash'ala got the feeling that the example he had just given was something that he used to do more often than most people would admit.

The mention of using the device sent a sliver of fear up her spine however, and she cursed Harry mentally for teaching her the meaning of his favourite phrase about 'self-fulfilling prophecies', had her earlier thoughts brought this horrifying revelation to fulfillment so soon?

" _Don't worry Nash'ala, I don't actually plan on doing something so stupid anytime soon, Susan and the others would kill me even if whatever foolishness I got involved in didn't."_ Nash'ala managed to resist shaking her head at Harry's misunderstanding, if she wasn't doing her best to keep herself from panicking she would have found such an attempt to reassure her endearing.

Still, it wasn't like she could put the situation off any longer, as she could guess that the mirrors he was talking about would require active magic to use. And the shackle on her magic made using it for more than a few seconds at a time almost impossible for all but the smallest amounts. Squaring her shoulders, as Harry gave her a concerned and confused look that made it clear that he had no idea what was troubling her, Nash'ala took a deep breath and ignored every instinct that told her to run.

" _These require magic to function, don't they Harry?"_ At Harry's bemused nod, Nash'ala steeled herself and grabbed hold of his arm, doing her best to not to wince as she uttered the words that she hoped she would never have to say to him.

" _There is something I haven't told you about me, please don't hate me…"_  The last part slipped out before she could stop it, and Nash'ala couldn't help but look away in shame, bad enough to reveal she was useless without sounding pathetic about it.

To her surprise Harry didn't try and step away or break her grip, instead he merely placed his other hand over the one gripping his arm and squeezed it reassuringly for a moment before speaking in that relaxed, self-assured manner that made him so comfortable to be around.

" _You mean the part where you tell me why your magical reserves are so small compared to pretty much everyone I have met here on Azeroth?"_ For a second Nash'ala was certain her brain had just stopped, the revelation that her big secret wasn't even something that she could reveal to the person who she had come to see as her closest friend more than slightly unnerving.

She managed to drag her eyes up to meet his as he squeezed her hand lightly again, his grin making her blush as she resisted the urge to look away once more.

" _I can sense magic remember? It's how I could detect how powerful people like Tyrande. Now, the way you brought it up made it sound like there is more to the story than just you having a small magic reserve, and though I didn't want to invade your privacy earlier now seems as good a time as any. Why don't you tell me about it?"_ Nash'ala wanted nothing more than to tell him everything, after so long with it weighing on her mind the relief would be impossible to quantify, but a glance to the mirror on the table reminded her that there other things they needed to do first.

" _We need to see Stormfire and get to Silvermoon Harry. As much as I want nothing more than to focus your attention on fixing my issues, our people need us to stay focussed on getting them here safely first."_  It was only as a massive grin burst into existence on Harry's face did Nash'ala realise she had referred to herself as a Terran, but thankfully he didn't comment on it further as he helped fit one of the mirrors to her upper left arm.

The fact that he was still fixing the mirror to her after her attempted revelation was a show of silent faith in her, and it was all Nash'ala could do to prevent herself from throwing herself at him for a massive hug, such displays were frowned on as weakness in Naga culture after all. A moment after that thought passed through her head, Nash'ala smiled before wrapping her arms around the man who saved her from a life of isolation and hate.

It would take some time for those ingrained mannerisms to wear off, but that didn't matter to her, as far as she was concerned she was a Terran now...

[]{}#%^*+=

"How are you finding your new attire Stormfire? I am impressed with the workmanship, but I can't imagine some of your sisters are overly impressed." If anyone had asked Kelanas a year ago what she would be doing now, sitting and talking amicably with a Harpy of all things in a reclaimed fortress in Desolace was an answer that would have gotten her taken for 'healing' at a moonwell.

Still, most of what had happened since the first Terran had arrived on Azeroth couldn't be considered 'normal' by any standard, and Kelanas was glad that the High Priestess had given her this assignment. It had initially been difficult to accept at first, and there were times as they travelled into Ashenvale where Kelanas wondered if her post was a sign that she had upset Lady Tyrande in some way during her dealings with Archdruid Staghelm.

Whilst she often acted mature and modest about her position on the Council of Elune, despite only being 203 years old, Kelanas was honest enough to admit to herself that she enjoyed the attention of Lady Tyrande such a position implied. Despite her young age Kelanas had been involved in rebuffing the Legion's invasion from the outset, though a rather heavy injury she sustained in the defence of Ashenvale prevented her from taking part in the final defence of the World tree.

Whilst some of the other injured bemoaned the glory and prestige they had missed in fighting in such a climatic battle, Kelanas concentrated on the far more important tasks that the survivors of the invasion now faced, which was dealing with the remaining demonic invaders and undead that remained entrenched in the various forests the Night Elves once called home.

"They are delightful Windflower-walker, they are so warm and colourful that I want to wear them all the time! Though I do miss the way Harry used to turn red and look away when talking to me, even if he would not explain what it meant, it was a nice feeling for some reason in my stomach. Do you know why he did that Windflower-walker? With my place here representing my flock, I realise I do not know all that much about Land-walker customs, and I would like to learn all I can to bring back and teach my sisters!" Kelanas did her best to keep her face calm and relaxed as she tried to work out how to get out of discussing how much Harry, and the other male Phantoms, had been embarrassed and more than slightly appreciative of the Harpy's small but perky breasts being bared to the world.

She had only been given the talk 30 years ago by her mother, and Kelanas had thought she would still have centuries before she had to go through that embarrassment again with her own children, if something she fought didn't end up killing her before then of course. Thankfully she was prevented from having to answer by the approach of Harry and Nash'ala to the base of the tower they had converted into accommodations for Stormfire and any other Harpies Windfury was able to convert to their side.

Stormfire seemed to be taking to her new lifestyle with unrequited glee, all sorts of shiny and colourful items spread around the inside of the former guard room, many of them conjured or transformed by the strange Terran magics from debris or basic materials. But the origin of her baubles did not bother Stormfire, something that made Kelanas suspect she had never had much in the way of possessions prior to this point to call her own. This helped explain Stormfire's love of what many Night Elves would view as a simple shirt and trousers, even if they were remarkably well made and in several hues of deep reds and purples that shifted from time to time like a breeze.

"Nash'ala-serpent, Harry! Thank you for the clothes, they keep me so warm I almost don't need the bed-nest thing you gave me! Not that I want to get rid of the bed-nest or imply that it is a bad gift, it is wonderful and… I am talking too much aren't I?" If Kelanas didn't know why Stormfire was acting so much like a Night Elf child high on moon water she would probably have been annoyed by the way the young Harpy acted, but Lady Susan had somehow noticed her initial frustration and taken her to one side to explain why the Terran's thought this was happening.

Between the curse magic suppressing all of her non-fear or anger dominated emotions and ramping up the two particular emotions against anything but other Harpies, as well as the almost cut-throat conditions between the members of her Harpy pack over the little food and resources available, Stormfire was socially and emotionally stunted to the point that even the small positive emotions from things like her new clothes were the equivalent of emotional overload in anyone else.

Nash'ala was translating for Harry again, though judging by his reassuring smile Harry understood at least some of what Stormfire had said, something that pleased Kelanas even if she knew it was not the correct feeling to have. It just meant that soon Harry wouldn't need Nash'ala to translate all but the most important conversations for him, which meant if the Naga was trying to turn him against them by changing her words…

Kelanas shook her head to clear it of the negative thoughts in her mind, it wasn't that she didn't trust the young Naga, by Elune Nash'ala may be the only Naga she could ever trust. Her stomach ached at this point as if on cue though, reminding her of the very personal reason that made it so hard to let old hatreds lie. It was why she was gratefully her priest robes were so modest, the scars from the night Illidan escaped in pursuit of the Eye of Sargeras would not be so easy to hide otherwise.

"Harry is glad you like the clothes, he says that the armorer should have explained the enchantments that have been woven into it to get them off right? Whilst they do have some cleaning charms included he advises getting them washed every couple of days, if you want he can…" Kelanas had thought about warning them, given Stormfire's lack of understanding with social etiquette she could see the metaphorical hippogryph clash before it happened.

But as Stormfire flared her magic, twirling in place delightedly as her clothing separated itself at the seams and folded itself into a nice neat pile on the floor, Kelanas could only chuckle at the shocked look on Nash'ala's face as Harry quickly looked away. She didn't get off completely however, as the now 'free' Harpy hopped over to her with a flap of her wings to point excitedly in Harry's direction.

"Look Windflower-walker, Harry's doing it again, and it produces a warm feeling in my chest. What does it mean?" And now she was going to have to explain what a crush was to the young Harpy, as well as convince her to get back in her clothes before anyone else came perving.

Maybe Lady Tyrande was punishing her for something...

!"£$%^&*()_+

Even as his eyes started to recover from the magical transition that had just occurred by long range hearthstone, an experience Harry was sure Hermione would love to experience as a comparison to portkey or apparition, he could tell by the magic in the air that this was a very different place compared to Theramore or Darnassus.

It felt almost sickly in places as it flowed around him, the sensation reminding him of the numerous undead that he had fought on Earth, and as sound returned to his ears he suddenly understood why. The grotesque roaring of some massive creature ripped through the sounds of combat and shouting that was occurring around them.

Looking around Harry saw that they were on what could loosely be described as a battlement, though it's condition was at best rugged if not precarious. Not too far to the South of their position he could see at least a dozen Blood Elves armed with bows, firing down into what looked like a wall breach, though with the dust and debris filling the air the breach seemed to have occurred very recently.

" _%^*^%% attack!"_ Coira's shout brought a smile to his face even if it didn't fit the situation, even if it was short, a 50% understanding rate was the best he had achieved so far.

The smile disappeared from his face a moment later as his eye caught several shadowy shapes descending towards the Blood Elf archers, who hadn't noticed the grave threat as they poured fire into whatever was going on below. He didn't have time to activate the translation rune and shout a warning or order, so Harry did what he did best and  _acted._

With a wave of his hand several feet of battlement next to him shifted like water, forming a spiked barrier above the Blood Elves even as they started to react, just in time for the first of the attackers to careen right into it. The following three monsters managed to maneuver around their stunned and probably concussed fellow, but these arcs took them away from the archers, two of the beasts flying in his direction.

"Well aren't you two ugly bastards…" The flying creatures reminded him of the gargoyles he had seen around Hogwarts, though these made even those ugly statues look positively endearing in comparison.

Even as the first one closed with him it emitted an ear piercing shriek, Harry doing his best to shrug the sound off, flicking his wand into his hand and fired a rather powerful banishing charm that reversed the first creatures velocity. Whilst not particularly damaging by itself, Harry's spell made the two creatures collide with bone crushing force, a sound not too dissimilar to bricks breaking against each other ringing out as the two fell to the floor of the battlement in a heap.

" _Stop and #%^#^ #%^*^!"_ Two of the Blood Elves now had their bows pointed in Harry's direction and one of them was shouting at him and the others, though Harry had no time to try and appease them as more black shapes descended from above.

A shadowy blur rushed past him even as he fired a  _reducto_ spell at the closest beast, thankfully he recognised Coira by her magic or he would have tried to react defensively, the rogue slamming both daggers into the back of the first creature that tried to attack him. The beast he targeted shifted to avoid Harry's spell, but it couldn't dodge the crossbow bolt Storri fired into its left eye, Harry could imagine the cocky smirk on the Dwarf's face as he started to reload his weapon whilst the thing dropped out of the sky like a stone.

There were at least a dozen more of the things descending towards them through the darkening skies, something the other Blood Elves seemed to realise as they stopped pointing their weapons at him and his companions to target the actual enemy instead. Even as arrows and other projectiles from both groups started to pepper the incoming flyers and Kelanas's Magic lit up the area in Holy Light, Harry was reaching down to the Earth at the base of the wall itself, his abilities were far less effective against enemies that could dodge in 3-D after all.

It took all he had not too recoil at the feeling of the earth on the outer side of the wall, the feeling of death powered curses and corruptive demon magics infusing the very particles of the ground. To use such raw materials to create golems, to help in Silvermoon's defence, would run the risk of the demon magic interfering with his own and causing the golems to 'go feral' and attack everything that came near.

Not what he needed when he was trying to make a good first impression, and though Harry thought he could do something about the necromancy based magic, it would take too long and require too much energy to be done in the heat of battle. Still, just because he couldn't utilise it as an autonomous weapon didn't mean he couldn't use it more… directly.

" _Nash'ala, I am going to join the fight below. If you could keep our new friends from shooting me, that would be most helpful!"_ Given the way that Coira had respected Nash'ala to the point of trying to rescue her, Harry got the feeling that she would have a better time convincing the other Blood Elves than he would.

Feeling her emotions spike with pride and no small amount of embarrassment, it was clear Nash'ala had heard him and Harry decided to take that as his cue, apparating out of the way of one of the approaching flyers as it's claws reached for him and reappearing near the base of the wall outside what he assumed was part of the Blood Elf city.

There were hundreds of Undead pushing their way towards the breach in the wall from the wasteland area beyond, intermixed with beasts and constructs that Harry didn't recognise, ranging from groups of spider-like beings to giant flesh constructs amalgamated from different corpses. It was these flesh constructs that gathered most of Harry's attention, as three of them pushed forward through the arrows and spells of the defenders without concern for their own safety, they reminded Harry far too vividly of the work of Vasquis and his flesh golems.

It took a few moments for the nearest undead to react to his arrival, with many of them focused on forcing their way into the breach about fifty yards to his left, and by the time the corrupted Blood Elves who seemed to be commanding the assault were ordering their minions to attack him it was too late. Whilst he could have actively caused a lot of damage with Earthen Spikes or a similar spell, Harry had learnt from hard earned lessons to take advantage of the terrain around him.

The corrupted Earth seemed to be related to the massively long gouge that ran off into the horizon, both into the ruins of the city and beyond what he assumed was the outer wall several hundred yards away, running several metres deeper than the earth at the base of the wall they were attacking. This meant that the undead were trying to force their way up quite a steep slope, which covered the hundred yards from the edge of the gouge to the base of the wall. Naturally, or unnaturally now he thought about it even as he finished gathering and manipulating his magic, the undead wouldn't care for the slope they were climbing as they didn't tire or become exhausted.

But turn that solid earth into a mudslide that his magic was assisting, and the fact they wouldn't notice the difference in terrain would work against them. Even as he watched, Harry saw one of the crude siege weapons the undead had probably used against the wall begin to slide downwards, crushing at least a dozen Skeletons before slamming into one of the now flailing flesh golems and over balancing it.

The spider things were coping with the mud better than most of the grunt undead, who were either falling over themselves trying to continue their advance or were being forced down the hill into the crush rapidly building at the bottom of the gouge. Harry's plan had then been to bury them in their own corrupted earth, after he corralled them all suitably in the unnatural grave some terrible event had created, but the appearance of an arrow  _far_  too close to him made him react to that instead.

Thankfully he was wearing both his dragon hide armour and his phantom robes, but even then the arrow pierced the latter's defensive spells and embedded it's tip in the meat of the former, the force of the impact sending him tumbling back. With a growl aimed mostly at himself for being so over-confident, Harry snapped the shaft of the offending arrow with a swipe of his free hand whilst summoning his earthen armour to him with his thoughts.

His next spell from the Elder wand stopped a second arrow in its tracks less than a foot from his head, and looking down into the gouge Harry saw the shocked face of one of the corrupted Blood Elves, even as she fumbled for a third missile from her quiver.

He wouldn't allow her the chance, slamming his hands into the Earth with a roar, causing the Earth on either side of the now packed gouge to shoot up almost fifty metres in the air and then collapse inwards like the wroth of an angry god. To his surprise both the archer and another Corrupted managed to overcome their shock in time to escape his trap, the archer vaulting athletically over undead and other Corrupted alike before using the falling form of one of the flesh golems to clear the far side of the gouge trap.

The other Corrupted disappeared in a flash of purple fire, but as Harry couldn't sense his emotions anymore amongst the rapidly emptying battlefield he focused on the enemy that had actually nearly killed him instead. Apparating behind where he could see the Corrupted archer heaving for breath, which given her frantic escape was unsurprising, Harry disarmed her of her bow with a flick of his wand even as she turned to face him. No doubt she was sensing his magic like Coira did.

To her credit the archer didn't panic or hesitate at the loss of her preferred weapon, leaping forward to engage with fists, not that her punches did anything against his enhanced armour. His shoulder armour cracked slightly under the impact, but he could tell at least two of the woman's fingers cracked from the vibrations he felt, the woman doing her best not to cry out in pain as she drew her hand back.

Summoning the sword of Gryffindor and levelling it firmly in her direction, Harry was struggling to resist the urge to just end the  _creature_  in front of him, the corruptive magic embedded in her soul so close he could almost  _smell_ it oozing from her. But beneath all of that was pain, hunger and most of all fear, the Corrupted freezing in place at the sight of the sword, in a manner that showed a desire for self-preservation that no undead or low level Legion minion could hope to replicate.

And besides, Harry had never killed an opponent in cold blood, despite how much he had been tempted at times. So he wasn't going to break that rather impressive streak now, flicking his wrist to send a stunning spell at the archer faster than she could react, his next spell dying in his mind before he could cast it, the stunner disappearing as the Corrupted elf reacted like a starving animal and tore it into pieces with her hands before devouring it.

Before she could do anything else though Harry fell back on his earth powers, sinking the Corrupted up to her shoulders into the floor before she could react, the Corrupted's ambient ability to absorb his magic merely rehardening the Earth as she started to struggle at her new bindings.

Looking around, Harry saw one of the Flesh golems trying ineffectively trying to tear itself from the ground he had buried it in, the few remaining undead that had avoided his trap far less threatening as they staggered towards the wall. Leaderless, and with their flesh golems neutralised, it would be relatively easy for the defenders to deal with them.

Now Harry had two problems left to deal with. The first was working out how to explain capturing another woman to Susan and the others, which was always a challenge even if the girls didn't actually suspect things most of the time. The more important thing to consider though, as Harry looked up to where his companions were finishing in their defence of the walls by driving the few remaining monstrous flyers into retreat, was why Regent Loth'mar would give an esteemed guest a hearthstone that put them in the direct path of an attack…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Before we go any further, no Harry doesn't think Loth'mar did anything to actually orchestrate an attack as they arrived, but he has other suspicions that will unfold further in the next chapter.
> 
> Still, we have finally left Kalimdor, and with that we move to a whole new area of danger, pitfalls and opportunity for Harry to navigate. So now we get to spend a couple of chapters in and around Silvermoon city, Harry working to help them secure some more of their ruined city, as well as pouring through scrolls with Nash'ala and Coira to try and find something useful to help make a portal to Earth.
> 
> As a heads up, the Nash'ala and Kelanas POV's were added after everything else. This was partly because of the word count being to short, but also to deal with two long running issues I keep mentioning or alluding to but never actually covering, Nash'ala's bindings and some actual character development for our little Night Elf. Let me know what you think, they are the written equivalents of 'one take music videos' and therefore could be okay or could be terrible.
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed it, let me know what you think, especially if you are coming to this a while after it's put up, I need the reminders to work on this :P


	14. Silvermoon City

Given the rather… Enthusiastic method Harry used to deal with the Scourge forces attacking her city, Coira barely made it to the breach to help deal with the few remaining invaders that had made it into the remnants of the city she called home. Given the carnage her newest friend was causing outside, which had more than one of the Rangers on the wall staring in awe and not so subtle desire, Coira decided to handle the diplomatic introductions that would be needed for them to get any further into the city.

Whilst she had been an agent out in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms for most of the last five years, Coira was still familiar enough with the power structure within the city to recognise High Guardian Camsen Redwing, one of the Silvermoon Guardian leaders who handled the defence of the city. The scarred and grizzled veteran, whose name was associated with numerous tales of valour from the First and Second Orc wars, was directing other members of the Guardians as well as the Blood Elf 'militia' members with practiced ease that came with centuries of practice.

"Guardian Nightspark, take twenty men and secure the streets, make sure no ghouls or wretched got past us in the melee. Farstrider Brightblade, I need you and any other bows you can spare on the walls in case the undead come again before our mages have a chance to fix the wall. Then I need 30 of you to come with me to go investigate what in the name of the Sunwell just happened outside, the rest of you can stop hanging around and get back to your normal lives, whatever that magical energy was it isn't going to be a free damn buffet…"

Coira frowned even as she slipped between the volunteering Blood Elves with practiced ease. Whilst it was good to see Camsen controlling the situation, the look of hunger that she could see on many of the gathered Blood Elves faces was unnerving, obviously the situation here had gotten worse since she had last spent any amount of time in the city.

"High Guardian Redwing!" Announcing her presence Coira noticed more than one person eye her, and more importantly her pouches, with renewed interest that had the hairs on the back of her neck on end.

She had gathered quite the collection of trinkets from Harry, both because Nash'ala had explained the Blood Elves' need for magic every few days to sustain themselves, but also because it was nice to 'beg' him for presents. She found though that the trinkets he made contained enough magic, and absorbed enough from the environment over time, that if she didn't get greedy they could last two weeks or so before reverting to their original shape. This meant she had 20 or so trinkets on her right now, and judging from the looks she was getting, it was more 'free' magic than most Blood Elves saw in months.

"Farstrider Lightblade, I assume you are one of those that appeared on the walls in the middle of the attack? Regent Lor'themar had informed us that you might arrive soon, but your help with Gargoyles was most appreciated, even if your human friend disappeared in the middle of the fight." There was some grumbling at the mention of Harry's presence, but Coira ignored it as she noticed a particularly pallid Blood Elf Priest doing his best to heal one of the injured Blood Elves, despite the fact he looked like he might collapse any minute.

"We were High Guardian, and I will explain further in a moment, but to summarise that 'human' is the cause of the destruction of the attack force outside." With 6 strides Coira was next to the Priest, grabbing a trinket from her pouch and holding in front of his face as his healing powers stuttered and failed.

The man needed no encouragement, his eyes glowing as he devoured some of the magic from the trinket in a manner that might be attributed to a dying man, his colour improving visibly as Coira watched and his healing powers bursting back into life with renewed vigour. Removing the trinket before he gorged himself too greatly on the magic, Coira turned back to the crowd as they watched her in slight awe, a quick scan of the crowd allowing her to determine there were no others here that were in a similar state of mana withdrawal.

"I assume you vouch for the rest of your group Farstrider?" Camsen's question showed the man was in better control of his emotions than most the gathered Blood Elves, and Coira decided to make it clear quite how important Harry and the others were before the man appeared and risked causing a feeding frenzy amongst the gathered Blood Elves.

"They are here on invitation of Regent Lor'themar himself, part of a diplomatic mission from a new group being created in Kalimdor. As you can see." She gestured out through the breach in the wall, where the remnants of Harry's finishing attack were still visible jutting out of the Dead Scar.

"They have some powerful magic users amongst them." Camsen seemed to get the hint, especially when she tossed the trinket in her hand up into the air and caught it, his eyes hardening as he reassessed the situation.

"Everyone who is not a full Guardian or Farstrider return to the city, secure the streets and reassure the populace that the city is safe. Farstrider Brightblade, if you and your people could secure the wall and scout for another potential attack, my people will handle crowd control and clean-up here." It was about as close to declaring the situation classified that someone of Camsen's level could officially declare, word would spread quickly of course but hopefully the details would be kept vague for now.

It was the same reason that Coira had deliberately misled those gathered with her comments about the Terran group in Desolace, no need for the news of a new race's arrival to spread too quickly after all. That said, they would be talking to the wider Council later, and given the way Blood Elf politics worked that meant the news would get out soon enough.

As the crowd started to disperse, admittedly with some reluctance from some of the civilians, Nash'ala and the others reached the base of the stairs leading from the rampart. The Naga girl was obviously more than a little surprised at the warm greetings she received from many of the remaining Blood Elves. Kelanas and Storri were treated with significantly more caution, but it wasn't as bad as Coira had perhaps feared.

"Nash'ala, is Harry finished cleaning out the remaining undead? I didn't think the hearthstone would deposit us at the outer wall, but it was quite fortuitous that we arrived when we did." Their arrival had probably saved several dozen Blood Elf lives, and that wasn't even considering the number of survivors who would have magically exhausted themselves like the Priest she had saved.

Those that did would either perish given the lack of easily available magic in the city, or would turn and become one of the Wretched. Coira knew if faced with that choice, she would prefer the quicker more painful death, rather than descending into the eternal hunger her people battled against everyday.

"He was engaging one of the Scourge leaders when we finished the gargoyles, he seemed to have everything under control. Do you know why the Hearthstone dropped us here Coira? I thought we were going to be deposited near our rooms?" Nash'ala's innocent question turned Coira's mind back from the positives their unexpected arrival brought, she had been under the same impression and the chances of an 'accident' causing their Hearthstone to relocate them to the southern wall of the city were unlikely to say the least.

Whilst she knew the change in landing location was unlikely to be malicious in nature, given the chance for a potential alliance Regent Lor'themar wouldn't dare risk such an overt move, Coira could think of a dozen potential reasons for the move that would be considered underhanded to say the least. And judging by the look on Harry's face as he stalked through the breach a few minutes later, so could he.

Most of the Blood Elves didn't notice the Terran's bad mood though, many more were interested in the slab of Earth that was floating along behind him that was taller than a Tauren and at least as wide. Coira could see a Wretched's head and shoulders poking out of the top of the slab, and she was impressed that Harry had managed to capture one, given their ability to devour magic such a feat was impressive.

Setting the imprisoned Wretched down in front of him, Harry ignored several of the Blood Elves trying to greet him or ask him to identify himself, and Coira put an arm on Camsen's shoulder when he looked like he was about to try.

"I wouldn't High Guardian, if I am right Harry is about to do something to fix the breach, and will not let himself get distracted. Besides, I think our arrival on the South Wall is not by random chance, and judging by Harry's expression neither does he. It would be best if your men focussed on their other tasks and helped secure the Wretched he has captured, then I will escort him through the city to the Palace, he is not going to be in a very conversational mood." It took a moment, and Coira knew that any other High Guardian would have dismissed her request out of pride and stubbornness, but Camsen was one of the few senior Blood Elves that recognised what their pride had cost them over the last 50 years.

"Guardians, I will deal with the human and the rest of Farstrider Lightblade's party personally with you six Senior Guardians. Guardian Nightspark, you will assume command here when the human has finished repairing the breach, he is not to be interrupted." Harry was already working on that fact, though most of those still here wouldn't have noticed it, the bodies of the Scourge that had fallen inside the body of the breach were being shifted outside the walls as if dragged by invisible hands.

She suspected it was his earth magics being used, as Harry was currently drinking one of the vials of mage water that she had been able to procure him during her visit to the Horde's outpost in Desolace, his magic spiking to the point that it was visible around him in the form of a small vortex of dust and air. He then started chanting, in what Coira now recognised as one of the Terran languages associated with magic, and she turned on her mage sight to watch one of her favourite sights in the world.

It was something she had struggled to explain to Lady Bones, as the red-headed Terran questioned her rather thoroughly regarding her exact motives towards her husband, everything ranging from trying to form a political marriage tying the Terrans to the Blood Elves to her simply wanting to use Harry as her own personal magic battery. Given Harry's ability to tell when someone was lying to him, and not willing to risk testing whether such an ability was something other Terran's possessed as well, Coira had been as honest as she could regarding her views and hopes she had for Harry before she discovered he was already taken.

Watching Harry's magic seep out of his body and into the ground around him was a sight that Coira would happily give most of her worldly possessions up for, the intricate twisting and sweeping of the magic as it reshaped the Earth itself one of the most beautiful things Coira had ever seen. Lady Bones had been rather surprised at her initial answer, but had known enough to keep digging beyond that initial reason.

Watching as the pieces of began to lift themselves from the ground and reform like a jigsaw puzzle to replace the bottom half of the wall, Coira knew she was somewhat attracted to the man. It wasn't like she was head over heels, such a notion was the sort of thing confined to the literature of children and romanticists, but seeing a man throw around more magic in a single sitting than most Sin'dorei could manage in a week was definitely a turn on for her.

This attraction was heightened by Harry's attitude, if there was one thing that Coira hated about many of her own kind it was the sense of entitlement and arrogance that many of them carried with them even now. Harry could be sarcastic and aloof at times, but for the most part he was honest and humble about his powers in a way that bordered onto shyness, something that no doubt attracted the other women in Harry's life back on Terra to him.

The Blood Elves watching around her had already been impressed with his repair of the bottom half of the wall, but there were several loud gasps as the earth itself shifted like a wave, washing up to meld with and above the wall itself on both sides of the breach, and when it washed away two minutes what remained was a sight that made Coira smile to herself even as she stepped towards the now kneeling and gasping Terran wizard.

Harry had asked her about Silvermoon before they had arrived, and Coira had preferred to think of the city before the Scourge had attacked it when she had provided her initial description. She had obviously done a good job of painting a picture in Harry's mind, as where the breach had previously been stood a tower that was reminiscent of Quel'thalas in it's prime, the gleaming white stone a stark contrast to the cracked and weathered walls around it.

The tower stood almost 5 metres taller than the rest of the wall and was almost half a metre thicker on this side, something she had no doubt extended to the other side of the wall as well, complete with a bright blue roof at the top to defend from fliers or ranged attacks. It was almost like Harry had taken the image of one of the original Quel'thalas watchtowers directly from her mind and transposed it upon reality, the likeness enough that Coira felt her heart swell at the memories it evoked.

"Nash'ala, is Harry okay?" Her questioning of the Naga about the Terran's welfare probably gained a few raised eyebrows amongst the few Guardians who were not still transfixed by the new tower, but their unasked questions were answered a moment later as Harry started hissing to Nash'ala.

Whilst Najza was a language that Coira knew she would never be able to learn, she had heard Harry and Nash'ala converse enough in the language to get a jist of the tone of the words if not the content, and she could guess that Harry's earlier anger was still present in amounts she never really saw from the relatively cheerful young man. It made her think of the tower again in a different light, and to her surprise she was amused rather than upset at Harry's veiled slap in the face to the higher ups in the Blood Elf leadership, that in two minutes he had restored more of the original Quel'thalas than they had in the two years since they had retaken the Eastern part of the city.

"Harry will just need a few minutes to recover, the fact that several of your people drained some of his magic when it passed near them made it more difficult than he thought it would be." Coira was about to turn a severe look at the gathered Guardians when she realised that the normally diplomatic and genial Naga was already doing so, her arms crossed in a manner reminiscent of an angry parent in the middle of chastising their errant child.

"Guardian's Darksun, Autumnheart and Dayspear, head back to the training grounds, I will have words when I get there about what 'Royal Protection' implies. I didn't think I would have to spell out that this detail fell into that category, but obviously discipline is slacking now that we have returned to our own walls." To his credit High Guardian Camsen didn't even pause before reprimanding the three Guardians he had obviously seen steal some of Harry's magic, Coira had to admit to herself that she had been too distracted watching Harry work to notice it herself, something she would have to be more disciplined about in future.

It had been one of the things Susan had 'firmly requested' as a condition for Coira to be allowed to remain close to Harry so easily, and considering several of the other things she had demanded before introducing Coira to Harry's other companions still made Coira blush when she thought about them, Coira had no issue with something she had a vested interest in.

' _Short of Harry going nuts and going around killing your kind without provocation, you are to protect him from EVERY threat to his wellbeing. That means if you think your Regent is playing political games, you tell Harry. If one of your kind tries to take some of Harry's magic without permission, you put them down hard. And if one of those hussies tries to seduce him, I want her to wince every time she even looks at a Terran in future!'_

Lady Bones' anger when they had reached the privacy of her quarters had been such that Coira now thanked every god she knew that Harry had intervened at the start, even if she had thought he was throwing her under the Kodo at the time. Given the viciousness Lady Bones' had shown in her protectiveness towards 'their man', Coira wasn't entirely sure she would have come away from a full blown rage with all four limbs healthy and intact.

Coira wasn't quite sold on betraying her ruler's manipulations to Harry, that kind of betrayal could very quickly lead to her being relegated from Silvermoon's walls permanently, but that didn't mean she couldn't help him reach the right conclusions through a few implications and half truths…

!"£$%^&*()_+

It took them an hour to reach the area Coira referred to as the Court of the Sun, it would have taken them much less time but Harry had deliberately been stopping and handing out trinkets to those he could see were the most affected by the lack of healthy ambient magic in the area. Indeed, any magic he let out from underneath the Cloak of Invisibility was quickly snatched up by passing Blood Elves, despite the efforts of the guards he had with him and Coira's glares.

Not only did such charity rapidly change the attitudes of the Blood Elves around him, to the point that there was a very large crowd of Blood Elves who had brought their children to wait for him at the entrance to the Court in the hopes that he would take pity on them, but it also had the added effect of making Regent Lor'themar and whoever else he had gathered to meet him wait.

Whilst Nash'ala said that Coira hadn't known why their Hearthstone had deposited them where it had, and Harry believed her even without the bonus of his powers, she had said it in a way that reinforced his thoughts that it had been done on purpose. As he transfigured the gathered stones and twigs into trinkets for the 40 or so gathered children, something that had them all smiling and shouting with glee in a manner that showed how much such a little gift meant to them, Harry could feel the gazes of the Blood Elf Council on the Dais behind him.

Lor'themar had obviously warned them of his powers to a certain extent, as many of them were doing their best to control their emotions, though given the barely contained annoyance that more than one of them was wrestling with it was obviously not something that came easily to them.

The sound of Lor'themar's voice from behind him made Harry grin slightly to himself, though it was gone a moment later as he put his 'game face' on and turned to face the assembled Council, pulling off a respectful bow as he waited for Lor'themar to stop talking and Nash'ala to translate. There were seven of them, not including the Regent, and Harry found himself slightly surprised there was only a single woman amongst the gathered leaders. He had assumed that the Blood Elves would have been similar to the Night Elves in terms of male/female ratio, though perhaps this was because the Blood Elves didn't have quite the gender specific Councils that the Night Elves seemed to favour.

" _Regent Lor'themar welcomes you to Silvermoon City Lord Potter and thanks you for your assistance. Your timely intervention with the Scourge attack saved several dozen Blood Elf lives, and given the rather… impressive way in which you dealt with the breach in our walls, the risk of further attacks has been greatly diminished for some time."_ Given that the new tower was still visible in the horizon Harry knew there was no way Lor'themar could ignore it, and given the bursts of anger from several of the Council during Lor'themar's introduction the tower had obviously had the effect Harry intended.

They hid it well though, and judging from the generally positive emotions from behind him Harry decided to keep the meeting going with only the minimal amount of needling to express his annoyance at what he now knew was a play by Lor'themar to appeal to Harry's noble side. The sight of the Dead Scar, as well as the wasteland outside the walls that Harry knew from Coira's stories was once the Terran definition of Eden, was only compounded as he had walked through the streets.

Magic wasn't the only thing that the Blood Elves were lacking, food and clean water had to be supplied by ship from the looks of it and that couldn't be cheap, and that was ignoring the fact that every house seemed to contain two or three families as a minimum. The buildings themselves were the equivalent of slum houses, many repaired and patched to the point that less than 50% of the original structure remained.

The feel at the Court of the Sun was very different, many of the buildings restored to something approaching their original glory and even some trees and vegetation doing their best to grow around the periphery. Harry got the feeling that the Blood Elf leaders were doing their best to hide their troubles from any visitors/ambassadors they had from outside the walls, whether out of pride or to prevent another party from trying to take advantage of their desperate situation.

" _Let the Regent know that I am glad that I could assist him against such an attack, between that and the walk through the city I hope he understands why we were a little later than we had originally agreed, it must have been a misunderstanding regarding where the hearthstone would deliver us to."_  He and Nash'ala had talked about the situation on the way over, the young Naga showing a surprising head for politics as she quickly caught onto what Harry was implying and had to try quite hard not to get visibly angry about it.

Given his own words back at Terra's Point, Harry trusted that whilst Nash'ala's words would be slightly different from his own they would still have the intended effect, making it clear to Lor'themar that he knew the hearthstone location had been changed deliberately without obviously saying so. Judging by the approving smirk that flashed over Lor'themar's face as Nash'ala spoke, Harry got the feeling that he had been right, but also that Lor'themar had been testing him about it.

Lor'themar started speaking again before indicating behind him and further into the Court of the Sun, obviously an indication that now the public greeting had been undertaken it was time for them to retire to less public grounds, probably because Lor'themar was concerned that Harry would have some far less polite words to say about being tested in such a manner.

" _The Regent invites us to retire to Sunfury Tower for refreshments and proper introductions to the other members of the Council, he has then offered to personally show us to the Ambassador's residence where we can retire for the evening."_  The offer to personally show them to their sleeping quarters was a surprise, but Harry could work out the particular motives behind that move later, for now he had his own little cards to play.

" _Tell the Regent that we would be delighted. Then when we get there, you know what to do."_ Nash'ala nodded with a small smile, as this particular ploy had been something she had suggested in their walk up here, and it was a rather good one at that in Harry's opinion.

Harry took his cue when Nash'ala began moving up the steps, doing his best to ignore the cries from the crowd behind him. No doubt his gifted trinkets were already being divided between the children's families to maximise the 'fuel' that could be consumed, but it was like a drop in the ocean of what these people seemed to need.

Still, as long as he didn't do anything too aggressive in the coming meeting the positive attention from the crowd would act in his favour, certainly the Council would be asked a lot of questions if he left the city in frustration and didn't return because of something they had said or agreed. Compared to the hike through the city itself, the journey through the Court of the Sun was a short and pleasant walk, but that didn't help Harry's mood all that much.

The Court was where the more influential or wealthy Blood Elves resided from what he could see, and compared to the rest of Silvermoon's populace, the well fed and almost opulently dressed Elves around him made him sick to the stomach. To Lor'themar's credit it was clear that he disliked the clear divide between the two parts of his city as well. Or at least it was obvious to Harry, given the Regent's face was a well crafted mask of civility as he lead the Council through the small groups and their assistants, who clearly enjoyed far more personal space than their less lucky brethren as well.

Coira was speaking animatedly to Nash'ala and pointing out various people or places, Harry would get the pair of them to brief him further when they were in more hospitable territory. It wasn't that the Elves were being hostile to their presence as such, but given the number of guards around them and the fact that more than one wealthy Blood Elf had to be shoved away at shield point from approaching him, it wasn't a location that Harry would be comfortable sending another Terran to for some time.

Thankfully as they approached the tower that he assumed was the previously mentioned 'SunFury', they passed through what seemed to be an improvised checkpoint, and beyond that Harry started to see more of the different races that inhabited Azeroth, and the Blood Elves here seemed far more focussed on their work.

There still weren't many Alliance members, in fact Harry had yet to see a single human, but there were some Dwarves and Gnomes that Harry assumed were tradesmen or similar. Despite the uneasiness between the two sides none of the different groups were hostile to each other, and Harry was quite amused by the sight of a Tauren in massive plate armour talking with a Gnome in robes and armed with a staff that wasn't that much longer than Harry's wand.

The amusement faded as they entered the tower, the main rooms that they passed through surprisingly lightly furnished until they reached a large room with a semi-circular table and chairs that looked large, imposing and most of all uncomfortable. The Blood Elf Council moved round to take the seats on the circular side of the table, leaving Harry and the Nash'ala with a single much smaller chair facing them, the other three having been 'politely' informed they were to wait outside.

Nash'ala spoke up at this point to those gathered, Harry activating the translation rune as he knew what she was asking.

"Apologies my lords, but I must briefly excuse myself to deal with a personal issue, please could one of your…" One of the Guardians, that Harry recognised from the fight at the breach, was already moving to escort her to wherever the nearest lavatory was located.

They hadn't tested it fully, but Harry was fairly certain that the range of the rune was much larger than Hermione had originally told him, as they had reached almost 100 yards apart from each other before without issue. So as long as the facilities weren't outside the tower, the Council was now left alone with someone that as far as they were concerned, couldn't understand a word they said.

"He knew the hearthstone taking him to the South wall was done on purpose, I told you we shouldn't have done it. With his powers he defeated Scourge assault almost single handed, and you wish to test his patience with these games?" Nash'ala was barely out of the door when the only woman in the group spoke up, her tone and voice level as if she was merely asking the man to her left about the weather instead of the scathing questions she actually unleashed.

Harry merely looked up at them with his best confused expression, but even as the dark haired man in gleaming plate armour the woman talked to responded in a slightly haughty tone, Harry was already determining exactly who was on which side in this new political game.

"So the human brat knows some tricks, if he hadn't seen through such an obvious ploy then he wouldn't have been worth our time, bad enough that he made us wait for him whilst he was wasting time with his trinkets through the City." The clack of a staff on the stone floor of the meeting room brought the attention of everyone in it to the oldest member of the Council, or at least Harry thought he was by the silver hair, beard and thick monocle the male Elf wore over his one good eye.

The old Elf was controlling his expression and tone far better than the plate clad Elf, but his anger burned with far more vigour beneath the surface, making it seem like he had merely dropped his staff accidentally even as he spoke in a raspy tone.

"I am told that those 'trinkets' are responsible for saving the life of one of my Priests, as well as at least a dozen others who were on the cusp of Falling, so if you will not watch your tone Champion Vranesh I will watch it for you. I may have had my doubts about him when Farstrider Lightblade first brought him to our attention, but any human who helps defend our people and saves some of our most vulnerable when we could not has my support, no matter where he comes from."

So he had swayed at least one of them to his side with his actions, and given the emotions the rest of the Council were displaying despite their best efforts, this Champion Vranesh was now definitely in the minority.

"What are your views on this Lord Regent? And I am surprised you are so silent on the matter Champion Balic, given your concerns about the man's powers and affiliations with the Night Elves I would think you would have said your piece already." This came from one of the Council that hadn't spoken so far, a fairly tall dark haired Blood Elf male dressed in mage robes of deep scarlet including a cowl that covered the lower part of his face.

Lor'themar merely waved of the attempt to include him in the conversation, though given the amusement emanating from the man's core it was quite probable that Lor'themar was enjoying the chance to not join the rather unsubtle politicking currently being hammered out in front of him. The other Elf the Mage addressed merely snorted dismissively, resting one of his hands on the large two handed hammer he had placed by his side before sitting down and gesturing to the rest of the Council.

"Unlike the rest of you Grand Magister, Ranger General Halduron, Quartermaster Allerion and I remembered what the Lord Regent told us about our newest guest's ability to sense emotions. I have no doubt that he can tell that you are all arguing with each other, even if he has no idea what about, and such a show of disunity and weakness is the last thing we wish to bring to the negotiating table." That brought the bickering to a stop very quickly, and with a slight feeling of disappointment Harry deactivated the rune, the agreed signal that Nash'ala could return whenever she was ready.

Harry kept a weather eye on the Mage as they waited though, whilst all of the Blood Elves he had met so far had small levels of Fel and Death magics inside their magic systems, this mage had almost 50 times the amount he had felt from anyone else. Even if the Blood Elf's magic reserves were the highest in the room by a considerable margin, that didn't explain the significantly higher levels. Harry wouldn't bring it up as part of the meeting, as he wasn't sure how much of a touchy subject it might be, but it was added to the ever increasing list of things he needed answers from Lor'themar later on.

It was a couple more minutes before Nash'ala returned, the Naga making her apologies before slithering up next to him, prepared to take her place beside his appointed chair. Harry decided to flex his ambassadorial muscles a little though, conjuring a large bean bag cushion for her to coil herself down onto instead, the bean bag cushion definitely one of Nash'ala's favourite things. Seeing several of the Council's questioning looks, Harry spoke to Nash'ala, in order to distract her from her newest comfort toy.

" _Could you please explain to the Council that it is not Terran custom to have others stand whilst we sit, especially if that person is a highly valued friend and advisor."_  To her credit Nash'ala merely gave him a look before turning her attention from her seat to the Council, though Harry caught her head fin twitch slightly, which was enough of a reaction for him to chuckle to himself. Flicking a cushioning charm at his own seat, Harry sat down as Nash'ala finished speaking, already feeling more comfortable than many of the Blood Elf Council members looked.

Harry could see at least half of the Council approved of his actions, though Vranesh and the Grand Magister were seemingly more interested in his magic than in his motives. Lor'themar started speaking in his usual confident but controlled manner, gesturing to each of the Council members in turn starting from Harry's left and working his way round in order.

" _Regent Lor'themar is introducing the various members of the Council. We have Keiana Raylance, who is the people's representative to the Council and is relatively new to her position, only having held the role for a year so far. Next to her is Champion Vranesh, leader of the Silvermoon City Guardians, that is the City Guard from what I can tell. Then you have Ranger General Halduron, leader of the Farstriders and generally in charge of all military operations outside of defending Silvermoon's walls."_ The Ranger General was one of the only two that hadn't spoken so far, and was the one Harry was getting the most difficulty getting a good read on, the Elf not even so much as shifting as Harry's gaze rested on him for several long moments.

" _On Lor'themar's other side, the nearest to him is Grand Magister Rommath, who has only recently returned from Prince Kael'thas' forces in Outland and has been helping with the restoration and reclamation of the Eastern side of the city. I have heard his name mentioned several times in the city as we travelled through the city Harry, it seems that he has brought several crystals of power that he is using to restore some of the worst areas of the city in a manner similar to what you did with the tower."_

That news made Harry even more interested in the still smirking mage, erecting that one tower after his destruction of the Scourge attack had drained him to the point that he would have been suffering from mild magic exhaustion if he had still been on Earth. To restore large areas of buildings in a short period of time would require him to remove the Cloak, or use a large amount of stored magic from some of the scrolls or runestones he had in some of his pouches.

" _Next to the Grand Magister is Champion Balic Swiftfoot, head of the remaining Blood Elf Paladins, and next to him is High Priest Frennic Wavestrider. Lastly you have Alchemist Thaeron and Quartermaster Allerion, who are here representing the Merchant's Council and the various trainers in the city."_  With the Council introduced, Harry nodded at Nash'ala's questioning glance, leaving her to handle their introduction.

Then, with the last of the niceties out of the way, it would be time for the real fireworks to go off…

!"£$%^&*()_+

Regent Lor'themar wasn't one for outward displays of actual amusement, it would be unbecoming of a Elf of his station after all, but as Nash'ala reacted to Lord Potter's nod to begin his own introduction he was resisting the urge to relax his practiced smirk into a true smile.

Lord Potter had been in his city for less than an afternoon, and already his advisors were in disarray with how to approach this new and unconventional faction leader. Lord Potter had already earned some positive points with the general populace as well, especially if Coira's report on how much magic each of those trinkets the Terran had created contained and how little such a feat seemed to tax him.

Even with the crystals that Grand Magister Rommath had brought back with him from Outland the Circle of Magi were struggling to maintain the flow of mana crystals needed to sustain the populace and their thirst for magic, so the extra influx of even the 50 or so trinkets Lord Potter had summoned would reduce the strain on that particular resource for the next day or so.

"I stand here as the translator for Lord Harry James Potter, the first of his name and leader of the Terran people, heralding from planet Earth that is currently being devoured by the Burning Legion's forces. His people will be migrating here over the coming months, and given the opportunity meeting the Honourable Lord Regent provided my Lord has accepted the offer to visit Silvermoon City as the first official Terran ambassador."

Lor'themar gave the slightest of inclinations with his head as Nash'ala finished speaking, both Terran and Naga had improved dramatically in the short amount of time since he had last seen them, though for the most part all Nash'ala had really needed was some more confidence.

"And what does this Lord expect from us? That would be the purpose of his visit, to come begging for assistance from the Sin'dorei in return for a few trinkets and a fancy tower?" Lor'themar managed to resist wincing in embarrassment as Champion Vranesh's arrogance came to the forefront, the man still acted like they were living in the glory days of Quel'thalas and that non-elves weren't worth his time.

Thankfully the snort of amusement from Lord Potter as Nash'ala finished translating the Champion's questions, backed up with the rather dismissive wave of Lord Potter's hand as he hissed his reply, was a far better put down than any admonishment he would have given in such a public setting.

"Lord Potter says that he wouldn't wish to impose such a burden on your people given your already difficult position here, and given the Terran forces already have a sizeable stronghold on Kalimdor support in that regard is not something he is interested in either." The implication, that the Blood Elves had no land to spare for their own people let alone refugees, was the cherry atop that polite but firm metaphorical pie to the face.

Champion Vranesh's teeth were set in a snarl at the rather humiliating retort, and from what Lor'themar could see around the table he was unlikely to receive any sort of sympathy, despite the fact that Lord Potter's comments cut quite deeply to all of them. It was their own fault of course, several of the Council had argued for the plan to relocate the Hearthstone drop point in order to appeal to Lord Potter's seemingly generous nature, and in doing so they had revealed the depth of trouble the Sin'dorei were in to a man they had then greatly underestimated.

"And before we descend into unsightly name-calling and other insults, which will harm relations between our races before they've officially been announced, perhaps it would be best if we talked about what I know Lord Potter is actually here for." Whilst he could have let the show continue further, Lor'themar felt that the point had had intended for both sides had been made.

His Council had needed a reminder that they were not big fish in the Azerothian pond, especially if a race of refugees from another world considered themselves in a better position logistically than they were, and if it tested Lord Potter's response to an unexpected manipulation then all the better. Lady Sylvanas was expected in the city before the end of the Lunar cycle on behalf of the Horde, to assess the strength of the Blood Elf forces and the support they would be able to offer the Horde if the Blood Elves were to formally ask to join, and the Banshee Queen would be a far harsher judge of her former home.

"Lord Potter, for assisted access to our remaining archives and libraries to assist you in finding as much information as we possess on the creation and maintenance of interplanetary Portals and gates for you and whichever researchers you wish to transport over, what can you offer the Sin'dorei people in return?" Normally Lor'themar would be ashamed of having asked something so blatantly, but he knew that Lord Potter would appreciate a frank discussion over half truths and politicking.

And if Lord Potter could improve their situation by the time Lady Windrunner returned to her home, even if it was only slightly, then Lor'themar would assist him in bringing over his people himself.

"I am… Happy? Yes, happy that we are no longer… Nash'ala, help?" When Lord Potter spoke in Common, Lor'themar was far less surprised than the other members of the Council, it had been something he 'forgot' to mention to them when he informed them of Lord Potter's arrival.

What he was more surprised with was the way Lord Potter spoke, when speaking to the Horde leaders in Orgrimmar, his Common was so fluid and comprehensive that it was like he had lived on Azeroth all his life. Now it was faltering and unsure, almost as if…

A glance to see Nash'ala's shell shocked face was all the confirmation Lor'themar needed. Lord Potter could now speak and understand at least some Common without the need for a translator, and his advisors had just had an argument where they admitted the hearthstone disaster in front of him.

Perhaps even he had underestimated Lord Potter in this circumstance, how very interesting…

[]{}#%^*+=

After his initial revelation that he could speak Common by himself now, which despite how badly he did was worth it to see the twitch in Regent Lor'themar's eyebrow as the man figured out that it was natural speech, Harry reverted back to letting Nash'ala do the speaking for him. Despite being able to hold a basic conversation, advanced negotiating was definitely beyond his grasp for now.

They talked back and forth for a couple of hours, the members of the Council looking more and more uncomfortable in their chairs as Harry and Nash'ala enjoyed their relative comfort in comparison, the High Priest the only one not too proud to ask for a similar charm to be cast on his chair. Nothing concrete was agreed for what Harry and the other Terrans could do to gain prolonged access to the archives, but that was mostly on purpose so that Harry could under promise and over deliver.

As the meeting came to a close it was agreed that, if Harry could do something to significantly lessen the impact of Scourge attacks on the City, the Blood Elves would support the arrival of the other Terrans on Azeroth in the same way he had agreed with Jaina and the City of Theramore. Admittedly the two groups were not what you would call major players compared to the Orcs and the Night Elves, but it was a start.

Though the Council were polite and courteous as they departed the meeting, which Lor'thermar ended at sunset to allow Harry and the others a chance to rest after their travel and battle on Silvermoon's wall, he could tell which of them were actually happy to talk to him further.

High Priest Wavestrider was the most obvious ally that he had gained from the military side of the Council, the man offering the services of three of his priests to help Harry with searching the archives in return for twenty transfigured trinkets a day and the chance to speak to him about further requests in the future, a generous offer by all accounts.

Champion Balic and Ranger General Halduron were less enthusiastic in their approval, but had offered to speak with him further about strategic targets outside the city if he decided to aid them militarily, which was as close to positive support as Harry needed right now.

Grand Magister Rommath was impossible for Harry to get a read on, and given the level of Fel Magic in the man's body Harry wasn't entirely sure he wanted him on his side in all honesty. Still, better not to make an enemy of the man for the sake of clarity, at least this way Harry could keep an eye on him.

"You made quite the impression today Lord Potter, even I was impressed with the speed that you have picked up Common, though I think some of the Council were upset to find you weren't quite as clueless as you portrayed yourself to be whilst Lady Nash'ala was busy." The amusement in Lor'themar's voice made it clear he wasn't bothered by the deception, the Blood Elf leader having relaxed considerably since escorting the four of them to a large building on the edge of the Court of the Sun that served as the Ambassador's residence.

"I am a little surprised they spoke so openly, given you knew I could use Nash'ala to understand Common, or was this a test for both sides and you forgot to tell them?" Lor'themar merely smiled in a civil manner at Harry's accusation/question, something that reminded Harry rather eerily of Blaise once more.

"Many of the Council have only been appointed since the fall of Quel'thalas during the Rise of the Scourge, and so have only dealt with internal conflicts between Blood Elves until now. I may have felt that dealing with a leader such as yourself would act as a learning experience for them, before they are forced to deal with less forgiving opponents in the coming days." So he had been used as a Guinea pig, at least Lor'themar was being open about it rather than trying to hide it.

"So now that you have given your Council the belief they have some choice over the type and size of agreement we will reach, what are you actually looking for me to help with here? I have some ideas, but there is no point in me doing something if there are far more critical concerns." Lor'themar looked slightly upset at Harry's bluntness, which given how much the man liked playing word games was unsurprising, before he produced a letter from his robe and offered it to Nash'ala, who had so far been sat quietly drinking some fruit juice that had been provided at what Harry imagined was some considerable expense.

The strain the translation bond put on the pair of them was lessening as Harry started to understand more and more Common, meaning that he could have a conversation like this for a couple of hours now without needing to take a break due to the strain, allowing Nash'ala a break after dealing with the Council.

"I haven't informed the Council of this yet, but Lady Windrunner is planning on visiting the city in the coming weeks, both as an official envoy of the Horde to assess our military and economic strength, but also to potentially determine the cost of support for the Forsaken to assist our forces in retaking some of our former lands. As you have seen with your own eyes, our position is… Not favourable to either of those points at this time, we can barely hold half of Silvermoon City given the strength of the Scourge to the South and our economic strength wanes by the day as we struggle to sustain both our warriors and the civilians. We have set up some farms on Sunstrider isle, but they are not sufficient for even half of our needs, and we cannot cut down what remains of the forests there if we wish to replant them once we reclaim some territory. And whilst Lady Windrunner is a former citizen of Quel'thalas, she will not allow such emotional attachments to prevent her from obtaining the best possible deal for her."

Trusting Nash'ala to speak up if there was anything in the letter that she felt needed to be discussed, Harry sat back in his seat for a few moments, considering his approach here was important to say the least. Whilst Lor'themar being honest with him was appreciated, what he was asking for was a lot of work and the Blood Elves were not in a position to give much of a direct reward.

"So you would rather be beholden to myself and the other Terrans than to Sylvanas and the rest of the Horde? That is a dangerous line to tread Lord Regent, and one that relies on me not wanting to do the same." He wouldn't of course, good will was more important than any short term gain right now, but Lor'themar wasn't going to find him so easy to deal with.

"Depending on what assistance you can offer us Lord Potter, I would much prefer that version to whatever Lady Windrunner would ask of us, but above my concerns related to the Horde are the concerns I have for my people. So if you could come up with some way to assist us in a way that saves Blood Elf lives, I would take it as a personal favour on top of whatever is agreed between us." That was quite the offer, especially as the favour was a powerful bargaining tool by itself.

"I have some things in mind that may help, but first I have a question? Why have you not retaken the Western part of the City? Given the difficulties that many of your populace seem to be having with living space I would have thought that such a target would have been a priority." Lor'themar shook his head a little mournfully at this point, before steeling himself and replying.

"Based on the stories that spread of your exploits in dealing with the Scourge attack, I assume you have seen the Dead Scar that splits our city in twain?" Recalling the corruption and deathly feel of the earth inside that trench, Harry nodded his head.

"The Dead Scar is corrupted to the point that everything he have tried to purify it has had little effect, any barrier or wall that our mages summon crumbles within hours and the Scourge attacks are too vicious and regular for our craftsmen to try building a barrier more traditionally. And with it dividing our city, all the Scourge would need to do is fill the Scar with their forces and suddenly our forces are divided and isolated from each other."

So the Dead Scar and its corruption were the main problem, though the Scourge forces would need to be put on the defensive first before Harry could carry out what he had in mind.

"Well then Lord Regent, do you happen to know where I can find some Necromancers?" The fact that attacking the Scourge forces would also help him gather some ritual components that the Blood Elves wouldn't have on hand?

That was just a bonus…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, people were complaining that I had taken over a year to update this story and what can I say, I am a crowd pleaser. :P
> 
> A lot of this chapter, and the previous one as well to be honest, have built off a rather heavy discussion with Byakugan 789. So a lot of the kudos for this work is theirs as well, even if they had no idea of the madness I generated off their input. :)
> 
> The plight of the Blood Elves in Silvermoon City is something I really wanted to emphasise in this chapter, not because I want Harry to be the 'Hero' who sweeps into save them, but because I think the situation following the events of Warcraft 3 the situation faced by many of the races on Azeroth is for the most part dramatically underplayed.
> 
> In part, this is because it is something that does not translate into a MMORPG like WoW very well, as it would involve a lot of boring quests like border patrols, fetching hidden stashes of resources and guard duty. Still, it also acts as a very valid reason why they take so quickly into following in Prince Kael'thas' footsteps and allowing themselves to become somewhat corrupted by the fel energies of the crystals that Grand Magister Rommath returns with.
> 
> We also had a little Coira PoV following on from Kelanas and Nash'ala in the previous chapter, someone who has a far more mature outlook on her 'attraction' to Harry in comparison to Nash'ala and Stormfire's innocent crush. It also expands somewhat on what she and Susan discussed, but of course there is more there that has only been implied. :)
> 
> As usual let me know what you think guys, I hate to say it but I am going to take a break from this one now to concentrate on my other stories, which also haven't been updated in awhile. But I don't plan on leaving this one again for another year, don't fret yourselves just yet…
> 
> Defias Out!


	15. Dar'Khan Drathir

The reason the Scourge had done so much damage in the initial surge leading to the Burning Legion's invasion, Coira mused as she snuck up behind the nearest shambling corpse of a former High Elf and planted one of her daggers into the back of it's neck, was that they fought in a way that no military force on Azeroth had ever encountered before.

The move was completely silent, she even caught the corpse before it could collapse to the floor, but still every corpse in sight suddenly turned in her direction with a single mindedness that unnerved her even now. Luckily for Coira this was part of the plan, dropping the corpse and fleeing back towards the path to Silvermoon as the corpses moved with remarkable speed in her direction.

Harry had lead them into the field for the last two days with great success, building on the hard earned lessons from the Scourge attack on Quel'thalas and showing her and the ten Farstriders who had been the first to volunteer how to use the aspects of their undead opponents to their advantage. Whilst the basic undead were relentless and did not tire, they also were not aware of their environment and would usually just charge towards the living without concern for themselves.

Following the very specific path that Harry had weaved into the floor, Coira smirked when the twisting path allowed one of the pursuing undead to catch up enough to lunge towards her, only to disappear into the disguised pit trap waiting for him. There was a meaty noise from inside the pit as she followed her route, no doubt the Shambler had been impaled on one of the metal spikes in the pit, half a dozen other undead following a moment later.

It was a tactic that couldn't be considered 'honourable combat' and one that took time and effort to pull off, or at least it did if you didn't have Harry's powers to dig the pit and make the spikes for you, but given the results and lack of casualties on their side Coira was more than happy doing a little digging. As she reached the end of the area they had dug out and trapped Coira turned around to review the effectiveness of their work.

Whilst Harry made it look almost effortless, digging three trenches at least two metres deep and filling them with spikes was not an easy task to do quietly, which was why Coira had asked for Harry to let them practice with this 'sentry group' near the last of the Scourge camps on this side of the nearest of the two main rivers that flowed down from lake Elrendar in the East.

Given Harry would be travelling south in the coming days, and though she hadn't voiced it yet Coira intended to request to go with him, in that time the more the Blood Elves learned about new ways of fighting their enemy the better. As hundreds of undead began to pour towards them from the surrounding wasteland though, Coira realised that this was going to be different from the other two camps they had destroyed, where the sentry groups had been easy to lure away one at a time before they assaulted the main camp.

The Farstriders began to pick off the undead on the furthest reaches of the oncoming mob with their bows, as these were the ones that would most likely get around the pits they had dug to attack them directly. Coira thoug was watching the way the mob moved in general, and saw something they had been looking for during the last two days.

Many of the fallen High Elf soldiers still had the weapons and armour that they died in, and these undead were almost universally gathered in an organised unit in the middle of the oncoming mass, masked and protected by the screen of raised civilians and other fallen who surged ahead of them. Turning to look at Harry, who had accompanied them just in case of this event, Coira saw that he had seen it too.

"Finally. Coira, do you see them?" It was strange hearing Harry speak in Common, especially as it was mostly very basic and broken sentences, which were quite different from the eloquence he imparted when speaking with the translation rune.

Still, it made communication possible whilst Nash'ala was accessing all of the scrolls she could on his behalf, so Coira stopped her mental complaints and scanned the area even as the first of the Civilian Scourge slammed into the first pit. Dozens were impaled and trampled as they filled the pit, but their bodies provided the path for the others, who were acting more and more like a battering ram in front of the armed undead behind.

It took several moments, but she noticed some undead armed with large shields approaching far more slowly, a green glow emanating from behind the moving barricade indicating the likely identity of their newest enemy.

"Well you wanted Necromancers Harry, Light above only knows why… There, now can you help?" It was clear Harry didn't understand at least some of what she said at first, so pointing first at the Necromancers and dumbing down her words before then gesturing rather vigorously at the advancing undead, who had now cleared the second pit with broken corpses and impaled walkers in their wake.

"Yes, fall back, I will… Deal with them." If it had been anyone else, Coira would probably have protested the idea of leaving him alone, but given what she had seen him do with his magic she gestured to the lead Farstrider.

"I hope you know what you are doing Harry." The Farstriders fell back as a single unit, half of them covering the others with bow fire before retreating under the others cover fire in turn.

Harry cast her a look as she didn't move from his side, but obviously he didn't think he would win that argument as he didn't mention it, merely pointing at the approaching undead as they split in two streams to move around the last hidden pit after the last of the civilian undead fell into it.

"Need to change, going forward, too easy to…" Harry struggled over what he wanted to say, seemingly uncaring about the mass of undead that moved to surround the two of them as the wall of shields moved closer, given the risk of someone higher up in the Scourge hierarchy watching Harry wanted to send a message of intent whilst not revealing too much of his main abilities.

"Well, haven't we got a couple of brave adventurers. I imagine you have been behind the sacking of our other two corpse camps as well?" The shield wall parted as it reached the encircling wall of undead soldiers, revealing four black clad Elves armed with skull topped staves that were responsible for the green glow that she had seen before.

She couldn't help it, Coira letting her anger get the better of her as she flung a throwing dagger at the one who was monologuing like he was freaking Kel'thuzad himself.

"Traitors!" Unfortunately this particular Necromancer wasn't all talk, the knife disintegrating against a crackling shield of eerie green about three foot from the man.

The Necromancer raised a hand in response, shaking his finger mockingly in her direction as two of his subordinates grasped their staves and started chanting.

"I prefer to think of it as 'staying alive', not that you will have that problem any longer mana slut…" The man finished his statement by thrusting his staff forward at the same time as his colleagues finished their chanting, three sickly green bolts shooting toward them in a manner that still haunted Coira's nightmares.

She expected a wall of earth, or a wand cast shield, not Harry stepping in front of her protectively. Raising one hand towards the incoming spells, the other releasing the clasp on his cloak at the same time, Harry cut a surprisingly relaxed figure. As the cloak dropped though his entire figure stiffened before glowing in a dark light that seemed at odds with the sickly glow of the afternoon sun.

Coira barely suppressed the wave of terror that washed over her as Harry's magic changed, large amounts of death magic was so common in the ruins outside Silvermoon City that she barely felt it normally, but this feeling reminded her of the single worst event in her life.

Suddenly she was lying on the outskirts of Quel'thalas once more, heavy wounds to her stomach and left leg from a pair of ghouls she barely managed to fell before  _he_ arrived. The feeling of death was so strong that she thought it would kill her before he did, but he merely looked at her with those ice-blue eyes before turning his horse and riding deeper into the already corrupted woodlands, dismissing her of being worth the effort of killing…

" **Death magic is such an… interesting branch of spells and rituals."** Harry's voice, deeper and darker than it had ever been before, dragged her from her memories.

Looking up from where she had dropped her gaze, Coira realised he had stopped the spells in mid flight merely a couple of inches from his hand.

"A Death Knight, here? Apologies my lord we did not realise…" The lead Necromancer was quick to change his tune, and given the sheer power currently emanating from Harry Coira didn't blame him.

If Harry hadn't given her and the Lord Regent warning of what his magic would feel like unshackled, then she would have feared the worst.

" **I do not understand you. Not matter, I merely have need of your tools. The spells are yours…"** It was clear that Harry was still struggling with Common, but he also seemed unsure of himself, twitching his hand towards them and sending the bolts flying back at almost twice the speed they had originally been cast at.

The shields that the Necromancers had in place shattered in the wake of the energised spells, the three Necromancers screaming as their own magic now withering their bodies to husks with remarkable speed. With the death of their local 'Master', the surrounding undead reverted back to their original commands quickly enough, charging forwards with a single purpose.

" **Sleep!"** Harry stamped his foot and a wave of magic shot from him in a chaotic and uncontrolled manner, dozens of the remaining undead suddenly collapsing as they charged, though there were still too many…

Then the oppressive Death magic was gone, an arm grabbing hers and whisking them away in the now familiar feeling of apparation, leaving the undead to slam into each other in the few seconds took for them to realise their targets were now gone.

"That was new…" Harry seemed uneasy, even as his cloak finished clasping itself around him, his magic suddenly back to the friendly warm and earthy feel she was so fond of.

Their retreat served as a signal, the Farstriders beginning to pour fire into the remaining undead whilst Coira took stock of the battlefield.

The only surviving Necromancer, who Coira could now see was a boy probably barely into his teens, was staring at his former comrades in shock that made it clear this was probably his first foray into combat. His age made Coira's blood boil, the boy could only have been a child when the Scourge sacked Quel'thalas, and had probably been forcibly taken and brainwashed by the Necromancers in Arthas' service.

How many other children and young adults had suffered the same fate? Whilst it wasn't the same as them being slaughtered and raised as the Scourge, Coria wasn't certain which fate she found more stomach wrenching.

Luckily she didn't need to bring herself to deal with the source of her internal distress, a pair of red magic bolts flying from her right a moment later, the first breaking on the Necromancer's hastily raised shield before the second smashed through it and sending the Necromancer slumping to the floor.

"Shall we?" It was Harry's words that brought her out of her mental shock, the Terran drawing his sword from his waist and starting towards the dwindling Scourge forces, and a moment later she felt her concern over the boy Necromancer change into anger as she drew her daggers.

First she would take her anger out on these poor souls, then she would reserve the rest for when she managed to find one of those responsible for this travesty…

!"£$%^&*()_+

It had been slightly surprising for Dar'Khan Drathir, one minute he had been observing Anveena and those pesky Blues as they travelled to Aerie Peak from his throne in Deathholme, planning how to deal with them for the indignity they had heaped upon him in Tarren Mill. Then there was a burst of Necromantic magic to the North, and despite it disappearing less than a minute later, the strength of the magic was significant enough that it couldn't have come from one of those amateurs who called themselves Necromancers of the Scourge.

Intrigued, as such a strong burst of magic meant there was a new player on the board in the 'game' he was playing for the domination of Quel'thalas, Dar'Khan left the scrying stone focussed on Anveena and focussed instead on the undead in the area he had sensed. The number was dropping rapidly, though he found a shade not too far from the rapidly diminishing assault force that would be useful for this task. It was a simple matter, applying some magic through the bond that all Scourge shared with his Master and subjugating the pre-designated commands in the Shade's mind, opening 'his' eyes in the Wastelands of Northern Quel'thalas a moment later.

Drifting towards what was obviously a battlefield, Dar'Khan found himself looking down from the far side of the river Elrendar towards one of the three camps he had established for his Wretched minions to launch assaults on Silvermoon City, though judging by the field of corpses off in the distance beyond its Northern 'wall' it was soon to be an 'ex-camp'. Making sure to stay at a distance, being metaphorically killed by arrows or spells wasn't part of his plans for the day after all, Dar'Khan quickly circled round to find the source of his interest.

He expected it to be one of Windrunner's band of traitors, even after her death the former Ranger General of Quel'thalas was causing him issues on his southern front, especially since the Blood Elves had 'retaken' Silvermoon City. For all the hatred of his master for what he did to her, the so called 'Forsaken' were just as prolific with their use of necromancy and other dark and corruptive magics. Though, from what his spies in the city told him, Lady Sylvanas seemed to be wilfully ignorant of what a large portion of her people got up to.

What Dar'Khan found though was  _far_  more interesting than some Forsaken Necromancer. A small group of Blood Elf Rangers lead by a Farstrider was the norm given they were less than four miles from Silvermoon, but the human accompanying them, with a level of power similar to Dar'Khan's before he pledged his services to his Master definitely grabbed his attention. What was more surprising to Dar'Khan though was not only the fact that the Farstriders were now moving through the corpses of the fallen Scourge, stabbing every corpse at least twice with their swords or scavenged spears to make sure that every corpse was just that, they were also stripping the corpses of anything made of metal or potentially valuable.

Many races on Azeroth were for the most part rigidly against anything that could be considered 'desecration of the dead', and looting of corpses was one of those borderline very dark grey areas that was generally considered to veer on the side of unforgivable. For the former High Elves to be descending to such a level told Dar'Khan that the Blood Elves must be desperate indeed, which was perhaps why they were working with the human Mage, given the pits he could see that had been used as traps he could be a mercenary of some kind…

Moving a little closer, with the aim of listening in on what the head Farstrider and the human were talking about, Dar'Khan only noticed the arrows in time dodge one of them, the other two catching the shade in the chest and sending him back into his own body with a wince.

Still it wasn't an entirely wasted effort Dar'Khan thought, as he began the chant that would transport him to their location, whilst commanding the Scourge forces just beyond Silvermoon's closest offshoot of the River Elrendar. A fight with an interesting opponent, whilst pushing the Blood Elves back to their precious walls, would be the perfect way to distract himself from the annoyances currently winging their way to the south...

!"£$%^&*()_+

After defeating the three Necromancers defending the last of the Scourge assault camps, Harry would have loved the chance to head back to Silvermoon with their newest captive and revel in the blow they had struck against the undead, especially given how weirdly his powers had acted when he removed the cloak. The burst of power had been far stronger than it had ever been when he had been on Earth, and whereas before it had merely been an easy way to gain an extra power boost to deal with some of the more powerful demons he faced, it had almost felt like there was  _something_ advising him how to block those magic bolts from the Necromancers.

He had enough experience of such 'helpful' nudges from enchanted objects to recognise it was probably the Deathly Hallows that were the source of such instinctive knowledge. But just because he knew the source didn't mean he could trust them any further without verification, The Diary Horcrux was still something that gave Ginny nightmares from time to time. He had tried to explain what was happening to Coira, as he knew such powerful Death Magic would have put her and the other Rangers on edge, but his Common Vocabulary was still far too…

Harry felt it for a few moments before realising what had his magical senses going berserk, and then his face paled as he turned towards its source.

"Coira, take others. RUN!" Unlike before Harry wouldn't accept her noble attempts to stay with him, using a mild banishing charm to force her away from him when she hadn't moved a moment later, her anger at the manhandling was something he could deal with later if they survived this.

A portal appeared a few hundred yards away, similar to the ones he had heard about from Jaina before he left Theramore, though the magical strength of the Elf that stepped through was superior even to Jaina's vaunted mana pools. The Elf was literally cloaked in Death Magic, the dark green aura surrounding him almost black to the visible eye. Harry heard the twang of bows from behind him and cursed internally at the Rangers refusal to listen to him.

"How rude…" The Elf's voice carried in a manner that made it seem like he was stood less than ten metres from Harry as opposed to several hundred yards, the arrows not even making it within a metre of the man before they disintegrated or deflected away from him.

Harry knew what was coming next even before the Elf's magic began to form, apparating across to stand in front of the Blood Elves in the fraction of a second he had before the Elf raised his arm almost mockingly.

"Learn some #'sy#%, #£%*&!" Whilst he didn't understand everything the mysterious Elf said, Harry understood enough to know what was coming wasn't a tickling charm. Even as a beam of energy lanced from the Elf Harry was at work, an Earthen wall rising behind a overpowered Protego shield, though each of them barely hindered the beam as it careened towards them and slamming into the foot wide Protego Maxima shield he had nearly overloaded with the amount of magic he threw into it.

It was like being hit by the Hogwarts Express, the sheer amount of magic in the beam attack meaning it started to disperse around his shield and carry on forwards in the moments before the attack let up, Harry left gasping as the spell finally ended.

"Harry, it's…" Before Coira could speak any further Harry had magically turned an item on each Blood Elves body into a Portkey and activated it, sending them all spinning off to Silvermoon City, he couldn't afford to protect them from another attack like that.

Another beam came a moment later, though Harry merely apparated behind the Elf and out of the area of attack, Sword of Gryffindor appearing in his hand as he attempted to end this fight before it began. The Elf ducked the attempted decapitation with remarkable agility, and Harry barely managed to avoid a set of glowing rays of light that attempted to bind him in place in response.

"Interesting…" The Elf seemed almost pleased at Harry's attempts to kill him, a golden shield springing into existence as Harry launched his favoured 3-spell combination of a cutting curse, a blasting hex and a stunning spell, the spells causing the shield to ripple slightly but failing to unsettle his opponent in the slightest.

Harry wasn't playing to win though, mostly because he was merely buying time for the Blood Elves to retreat to Silvermoon City itself, but also because he wasn't sure if he could win this fight even if he did go all out. That first attack, as well as creating and activating that many portkeys silently without his wand, had drained him of a large amount of his magic and his opponent had more than he did to begin with.

The next few minutes were a blur of action, dodging beams and shackles either physically or by apparation, all whilst unleashing a torrent of spells to keep his opponents attention solely focussed on him. Feeling the Elf's amusement start to fade Harry knew he needed to change things up a little, and despite the effort of maintaining a spell at the same time as everything else he was doing, Harry had just the thing in mind.

It took several seconds after terminating the spell for anything to happen, but the sudden widening of the Elf's eyes as the first double decker bus sized rock slammed into the top of his shield nearly made Harry think he had succeeded, especially as another dozen boulders slammed into the ground a moment later.

Harry made a habit of carrying at least that many giant rocks on him at all times, all shrunken and lightened to the size and weight of pebbles to remain easily accessible. After throwing them in the air as part of a slightly theatrical dodge, Harry had used a levitation charm to maneuver the boulders into position before cancelling all of the charms at once, several tonnes of rock falling from almost 10,000 feet a trump card his opponents rarely saw coming.

He wasn't overconfident though, apparating out of the way of a dark purple fireball that fell from the sky a moment later that oozed Fel magic, just before his attempted finishing move exploded in a maelstrom of magic. Despite his best efforts Harry was caught by several of the smaller rock splinters from that particular explosion, though even given his rapidly depleting magical reserves he wasn't doing too badly, even if the still pristine state of his opponent said otherwise.

Rather than getting angry at the attempted burial he had just survived, his opponent still maintained his cocky smirk as he unleashed a wave of energy outward that Harry had to apparate away from, choosing to move south rather than North in order to keep whoever this monster was from getting any closer to Quel'thalas. As he reappeared though Harry found himself in more trouble than before, his senses alerting him to the presence of hundreds if not thousands of undead, clearly they had awakened the Scourge nest well and truly.

Harry was doing his best not to use his earth magic, which meant he had to resort to more 'traditional' methods of cutting down the approaching undead with his blade and wand. Though, as more and more of the undead began to converge upon his position, it became harder and harder to stay ahead of the claws and teeth that attempted to grab onto him and drag him down. Harry could feel the Elf approaching at a leisurely pace, no doubt seeing what magic he might unleash to deal with the Scourge meat-fodder he had been attacked with, and given releasing the Cloak had been what attracted the Elf it wasn't exactly much of a secret any longer.

With a thought the third of the Hallows detached itself from his shoulders and into one of his expanded robe pockets, darkness flowing into Harry's mind once more. Like before, his body acted on the 'instincts' the Hallows provided before he had even realised what they were doing. Three seconds later and dozens of the nearest undead suddenly turning on their former 'comrades', transforming what had been turning into a trap of decaying flesh into a field of carnage once more.

Harry felt the Elf's interest spike to almost unbelievable levels, but even as he continued to approach Harry was focussing on dealing with the literal swarm of undead that were already starting to overcome his turned Scourge. Focussing on the feelings from the Hallows, Harry grinned before reaching out with both hands, words he didn't recognise spilling from his lips in a way that hurt his ears and made his mouth feel like he had just eaten sandpaper…

!"£$%^&*()_+

Dar'Khan couldn't remember the last time he had enjoyed himself this much, there were very few opponents that could keep up with him in direct combat for long since the fall of Dalaran and the other esteemed Magical schools on Azeroth. Even fewer of those opponents were able to surprise him like this mercenary did with the rock avalanche from the sky, something that Dar'Khan would enjoy trying to mimic later with his own magic to see if he could pull it off as subtly as had occurred here, and then he felt the strength of the man's Death Magic.

Dar'Khan wasn't aware of any Necromancers that didn't serve the Scourge, given everyone assumed they did serve his Master he couldn't imagine them lasting long in 'civilised' society, but perhaps that was why the mercenary had found a way to shackle his connection to Death Magic so that it was undetectable. Given the way he had asserted control over so many of the Scourge surrounding him so quickly it was clear the man had a lot of power, but the way it was used made Dar'Khan think he hadn't the control that would have made him truly dangerous.

Watching the man begin to chant, though he was too far away to hear the words, Dar'Khan paused in his approach to see what the man was planning. He had already seen more new magic in the last five minutes than he had since the fall of Silvermoon after all. Then he felt the pull on his magic, specifically the Death Magic his body had learned to tolerate since he had pledged his service to the Lich King, and started to wonder whether he was standing a little too close.

With a wave of his hand Dar'Khan created a portal next to him, his defeat against the Blue Dragons in Tarren Mill had shown him the merits of an escape plan if nothing else, but after raising a shield in front of him the pull on his magic subsided so he stayed where he was for now. His gathering minions weren't so lucky, and to Dar'Khan's awe the magic animating them was literally dragged from their bodies and pulled into the growing vortex that the mercenary was creating in front of him.

Dar'Khan could feel the Death Magic in the air lessening as the vortex took the shape of a swirling mass of energy almost the size of an abomination, which the mercenary then turned away from Quel'thalas, towards the barely visible Howling Ziggurat in the distance. Watching the energy mass unleash itself Dar'Khan understood why the mercenary hadn't fired it at him, it moved at about the speed of a cantering horse and therefore would be easy to avoid even given its size. But as the mercenary disappeared in his personal form of teleportation, which Dar'Khan still didn't understand, he decided he would let him go for now.

Altering the portal's location to the base of the Bleeding Ziggurat, Dar'Khan stepped through to wait for the projectiles arrival. It wouldn't do to miss such a powerful attack after all, perhaps he could learn something from watching its effects…

!"£$%^&*()_+

Coira was seething as she stormed up to the top of the tower that Harry's portkey had deposited them in and leaving the Rangers to deal with the boy Necromancer Harry had sent with them, she had a chance to take down Dar'Khan Drathir, the traitor of Quel'thalas himself! If Harry hadn't sent her away…

Even as she reached the top of the tower her more logical side started to take over, especially at the explosions and beams of magical energy that were visible from the walls, despite the fact the fight was taking place almost three miles from the walls. The Guardians were already panicki… she meant responding by raising the alarms, ringing the large bells that were dotted along the walls to alert the rest of the city.

Coira's attention remained firmly on the distant fight as Rangers and Guardians began to filter up to the wall, the lead Ranger who had accompanied them to attack the siege camps moving up to stand at the parapet next to her.

"Farstrider, I do not mean to question…" Obviously she did, and Coira knew what she wanted to ask about given she had her own questions, but that meant answering would be difficult.

"I do not have the answers you seek Ranger Shadowbreeze, and even if I did I would not break his confidence so easily, though I can assure you that he informed the Lord Regent of his powers before we began our excursions." That had been an interesting end to the fairly relaxed meeting at the Ambassador's residence, though the way Harry had stated it at the time it should have been nowhere near as powerful as it turned out to be.

"Actually Farstrider, I was merely going to question whether we should assemble a force and sally from the walls to assist Lord Potter, facing the traitor alone is something even Grand Magister Rommath has not succeeded in without being forced to retreat." That was news to Coira, she had been out on long term missions since the Grand Magister had returned from Outland, though if the traitor had defeated the Grand Magister even with his crystals of power that explained why the attempted expansions from Silvermoon had failed up until now.

The fact she had presumed the worst of the Ranger did make her flush slightly, but Coira made a point of not letting her pride get the better of her, so she offered a short but sincere apology for her presumptions. The apology obviously took the Ranger by surprise, but she shook it off easily enough before speaking once more.

"No need to apologise Farstrider, several of my hunt have voiced the concerns you tried to preempt from me. But given the Grand Magister's use of previously damned magic to restore Silvermoon City, it would be remiss of me to judge an off-worlder for powers he obviously tries hard to suppress." This was the third or fourth time Coira had heard someone refer to the Grand Magister's magic in a way that made it sound dangerous, but every time she tried to press on the subject those who had spoken had become evasive to say the least, and before she could ask something appeared in the sky above the position of the fight.

Her eyes were not good enough to make out exactly what the thing/s were, but given their size as they fell to the ground, she felt their impact a moment later as the earth shook for a moment.

"By the Sunwell…" It was at this point Coira felt a portal open behind them, and given what had come out of the last portal she spun round with daggers raised, only to relax when Regent Lor'themar and Grand Magister Rommath stepped through.

The Regent's single eye was piercing as it swept the horizon for a moment before settling on the location where the fight was taking place, bringing a spyglass that Coira knew had several enchantments on it to improve the range and clarity of vision that the user received.

"Farstrider Lightblade, Grand Magister Rommath was just showing me to one of the most recent artefacts that Lord Kael'thas sent back to us when he felt the large surge in magical energy beyond the walls, what is happening?" Before Coira could respond there was a flash of dark light before a dome of energy appeared in the distance, the Grand Magister narrowing his eyes in a manner that made it clear he understood exactly what was happening.

"The traitor, Lord Potter is engaging him directly? I thought you were only dealing with the nearest siege camps Farstrider…" It wasn't an admonishment, more than anything the Grand Magister sounded like he would have joined them if he had thought the traitor would have appeared, no doubt looking for a rematch in which he could settle the score ALL Blood Elves had with the man who had cost them nearly everything.

"We were, but the Scourge were more prepared in their defence of the last siege camp and this forced Harry to intervene to help deal with the counter-attack, I think his use of his powers grabbed the Traitor's attention. If it weren't for Harry blocking the first attack and then transporting us here, I don't think we would have survived more than a few seconds…" The fact she had been so powerless merely amplified the guilt Coira felt, defending against such a powerful attack would have been draining for Harry who would normally have just dodged it, the cost to his magic would have put him at a disadvantage against the traitor.

"And now he works to distract Dar'Khan from coming any closer to the walls, even though it has put him in even further danger from the looks of things. Grand Magister…" The Grand Magister seemed to understand the Regent's instruction though Lord Lor'themar cut himself off part way through his order, though the feeling that washed over them a moment later had the Grand Magister pause in summoning another portal.

"Lord Potter, he is… Grand Magister can you feel it?" Coira would have dropped dead from shock if the man couldn't, the Death Magic that permeated the very air they breathed was being drawn away to the South.

Admittedly it was only a small shift, that almost felt like a lazy breeze compared to the way most mages pulled in and then expelled magic, but this was from a spell being cast from  _miles_  away! After several long moments the feeling abated for a moment, before the ambient magic around them was pulled to the south in a manner that left Coira short of breath, as if a great void had been opened and the ambient magic was being sucked towards it in order to fill it.

This in turn caused magic to be pulled in from the areas surrounding Quel'thalas to fill the space, which was a rush of non-Death magic that many of the Blood Elves wouldn't have felt since evacuating Silvermoon during the Fall. It took a moment for Coira to overcome the heady feeling this provoked, bringing her attention back to reality as the Grand Magister started speaking.

"Incredible, Lord Regent, can you see where Lord Potter is? From what I can sense he channelled the Death Magic in the Ghostlands before using it in a spell, but what type of spell that contains such power…" There was a shift in the air behind them before Lor'themar could reply, and feeling the familiar magic Coira turned with a smile on her face, the smile fading a moment later as she took in the sight before her.

"HARRY!" It was probably too emotional a cry for her to pretend it was professional, but as she rushed to his side Coira found she didn't care.

There were several bleeding cuts on Harry's torso and arms, as well as what looked like a rock shard embedded in his shoulder, but what terrified her was the blood leaking from his ears and mouth.

"Rommath, get us a portal to the Priest Enclave now, and then prepare your magi in case the traitor tries to pursue Lord Potter here." As Harry opened his mouth, no doubt to say something, all that came out was a mouthful of blood that splattered over Coira's clothes as she lifted him as carefully as she could. As someone who normally did her utmost to maintain her clothing and appearance as spectacularly as possible, Coira surprised to find herself not even slightly revulsed by the wet feeling on her chest.

All her thoughts were focussed on Harry now, and what terrible things Lady Bones was going to do to her if Harry wasn't healed in time…

!"£$%^&*()_+

Not since the rise of Kel'thuzad as a Liche in his Master's service had Dar'Khan Drathir seen such a  _intense_  display of magic, as he stared at the devastation where the Howling Ziggurat had once stood. Initially the spell the mercenary had cast was going to miss the Ziggurat by 20 feet or so, which would have been disappointing for Dar'Khan to watch given the amount of power the spell had consumed before being launched, but thankfully the idiots who manned the tower had still felt it enough of a threat to create the tower's shielding spell.

Each Ziggurat was manned by a dozen Necromancers at all times, with thirty more based in the decrepit settlement about a mile east of here to reinforce the Ziggurats in case of attack, not that the Blood Elves had gotten close to such an event occurring since retaking Silvermoon. These Necromancers were capable of performing rituals around the Death shard at the top of the Ziggurat to either attack invaders with bolts of Death magic and the souls of the Scourge, or summon a shield to protect the tower and those nearby from magic or siege attacks.

Watching the spell impact the hastily erected shield Dar'khan had expected an explosion or some other spell effect, but instead the spell merely impacted the shield for a moment before  _changing direction_  and passing through the shield like it wasn't even there, sucking in the Death Magic that the Necromancers were using to channel the shield before it  _touched_  the Ziggurat's parapet. Then  _something_  happened, the ball expanding to envelop the entire Ziggurat and a large amount of the ground surrounding it into the Dead Scar itself, and no attempt Dar'Khan tried would let his senses pierce the veil before him.

It subsided several minutes later, and where the once intimidating and commanding structure had stood remained only the bodies of the Necromancers and other Scourge that had inhabited it. As he approached, Dar'Khan found that the air was almost entirely free of Death Magic inside where the spell had enveloped, though several seconds later the inertia effect failed and the surrounding magic flooded into the area once more. Even so, the spell had weakened the amount of Death Magic in the area surrounding the Ziggurats' location, and it would take some time for the presence of the Scourge forces to amplify it once more.

How very interesting… When he had claimed the power that rested within that damnable dragon, Dar'Khan would have to 'visit' the mercenary once more. A spell that sucked in all of the Death Magic in an area, and presumably banished it back to the Shadowlands where it came from, that would be very useful with what he had planned for his Master…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I can already hear the reviews 'First earth magic, now Death Magic? Harry is too OTT!'. Well given he still lost to Dar'Khan quite handily, even with the limitations and disadvantages he had, I like to think instead he is just about right.
> 
> This is the opposite of my X-Com story, where the Deathly Hallows are just some very well enchanted objects. In this story, becoming 'Master of Death' is very much a title and power that Harry gains, and though it will be expanded on as we go, this isn't 'Harry becomes the new Lich King' or something like. It is a power he has never really used before now, between the stigmata of Necromancy on Earth and his own reservations, but given its effectiveness here he will need to start practicing.
> 
> Whereas I previously used the book 'Cycle of Hatred' as a basis for Theramore and Jaina, this chapter and the next chapter will be drawing upon the 'Sunwell Trilogy' series, though there are considerable changes that will affect that story's ending. Given the rather… Unsatisfying last book, I don't think people will mind overly much.
> 
> Let me know what you think everyone!
> 
> Defias Out


	16. The Calm Before the Storm

"Kelanas, I am fine!" Not exactly what Harry imagined saying less than an hour after collapsing on the floor Silvermoon City's newly titled 'Needle of Clay', whatever language the Hallows had imparted to him clearly not some fancy form of Latin or other classical language.

The words themselves almost dripped with power and danger, the only time Harry had encountered something even remotely similar being the times he cast spells in Parseltounge, but even that paled in comparison. Thankfully, the combined healing by the Night Elf priestess and High Priest Wavestrider healed the damage using that much Death Magic so quickly had caused to his body, along with the burst ear drums and destroyed voice box that last spell had caused.

"You just took on THE biggest traitor in the history of Quel'thalas! I don't think you understand who Drathir Dar'Khan is Harry? He is the one who gave the Scourge the artefacts they needed to overcome the realm's magical barrier that could have held them for centuries otherwise, and if that weren't enough he used his position and our trust to learn every defensive plan we had, before slaughtering many of our most powerful mages and trying to claim the Sunwell's power for himself. He singlehandedly reduced a strike force of our best Magisters to bones and ashes when we first reclaimed Quel'thalas, without so much as moving from his original arrival point." Coira took a deep breath at this point, though it was clear she wasn't done.

"So if we aren't allowed to worry over that minor 'face-off with a man who could level Silvermoon in an afternoon', how about the fact you destroyed one of the Ziggurats that have been a constant insult of Quel'thalas' fall with a spell that had you spitting blood and bleeding from your ears all over my outfit? Just be glad that we couldn't contact Lady Bones, as none of us can speak your language and she doesn't know Common yet." It was a good, if probably unintentional, point that Coira raised regarding the mirror that Nash'ala had.

But it was something that he could sort later, just because scouts had reported the Scourge withdrawing all their forces from this side of the river didn't mean they were safe yet, assuming that Elf Mage didn't just decide to portal into the middle of Silvermoon and just slaughter everyone. Thankfully Lor'themar had been sending them runners to keep them updated, so Harry could breath a little easier for the moment.

"I won't do anything magic intensive I promise, but I need the gear from those Necromancers we killed to see whether they have the reagents I need for the Dead Scar. If they don't, I will need to talk to the one we capture…" Coira cut him off with a wave of her hand, gesturing off to the right hand side of the fairly expansive room he had been provided, where there were several ragged bags and what looked like the rest of the Necromancers gear.

"Luckily Drathir was too busy fighting you to re-raise the dead we killed, we have a group of civilians piling up the bodies for burning whilst Grand Magister Rommath modifies their siege camp into a forward outpost for our Rangers. Whilst you didn't manage to kill the bastard, you seem to have made him think twice about attacking here." Harry doubted it, he hadn't even so much as muddied the man's cape let alone injured him, but that kind of comment wouldn't be good for morale if it got out so he kept it to himself for now.

"Some of the Ranger-General's men have been talking with the boy, whilst he was heavily traumatised and brainwashed they think it is reversible given enough time and a large number of purifying rituals. And though he didn't give specifics, he inadvertently implied that there are more like him currently being 'trained' or held captive. The only problem is where they are being held, in Deathholme…" Harry had seen a map of the area and knew where Deathholme was, nearly touching the Southern mountains of Quel'thalas almost 200 miles to the south.

Even with the destruction of the two siege camps, and the reclamation of something the Blood Elves could use as a forward base, there were probably hundreds of thousands of Scourge between Silvermoon and there. And that was ignoring whatever surprises awaited them at the Citadel itself, if there were flesh golems and corrupted Elves as there had been in the wall assault then it would be even harder to pull off a rescue, let alone a full on assault.

"And the woman I captured during the wall attack? I assume she is one of these Fallen that you referred to?" Coira nodded, though it was Kelanas that responded with a frown on her face.

"The term the guards used was 'Wretched', and they wanted to kill her when it became clear she wasn't going to talk, which surprised me given she is essentially still a Blood Elf. She is currently being held in a modified cell near the wall, they didn't want to risk bringing a 'potential murderer' further into the city, though given the number of Civilians in the area I don't understand how it is any better…" Harry did unfortunately, and would be having words with Champion Vranesh, who he guessed was probably behind that particular bit of elitist snobbery.

"I will go and speak with her then, I have my own methods that might be able to make her talk somewhat, and then I will arrange with Lor'themar to have her transported to Terra's Point. If the Blood Elves just want to kill her then they shouldn't mind, and her condition will be something that our medical teams can look into when they get across to Azeroth." The mention of those still on Earth brought Harry to his next point rather handily, something that he had somewhat forgotten about given the events of last few days.

"Nash'ala, are we having any luck with information on Portals?" The Naga looked up from where she was pouring through a scroll and shook her head, which was pretty much what Harry had unfortunately been expecting.

"Sorry Harry, the Grand Library of Quel'thalas was sacked by the Scourge when they took the city, most of what remains is either what the Blood Elves managed to hide or flee with before the Scourge attack. Whilst there is some information on basic portals, these seem to be restricted to travel around Azeroth itself, many referring to documents that we don't have for more advanced instructions." Pretty much what Harry expected, though if the Scourge had sacked the library rather than merely destroying it then perhaps some useful tomes were held somewhere in enemy territory instead.

And if he wanted to go on the offensive again, first he had to make sure that Quel'thalas was well defended enough that he wouldn't need to worry about leading the Scourge away from it again.

"Right, we will go speak to this Fallen, and then I think we need to find Storri. I need his opinion on some things…" This Dar'Khan guy would blow through anything that Harry would be able to set up, but the normal Scourge he could do something about…

!"£$%^&*()_+

"More Scourge in front of us!" The call from their Ranger Scout, who had taken residence up on the battlements of the Western Ruins of Silvermoon City, made Lor'themar grin grimly as he removed his blade from the last of the undead his force had just overcome.

With the withdrawal of the Scourge from the outskirts of Silvermoon, as well as the establishment of a Ranger outpost on the bank of the River Elrendar, for the first time in two years there was a little bit of breathing room for the Blood Elves. But just because the threat wasn't as overwhelmingly present didn't mean they could begin to relax, and the efforts of Lord Potter had gone a long way to reminding Lor'themar that being the Blood Elf leader meant more than being the figurehead for negotiations.

"Alchemist Thaeron, your group is to burn the Scourge attacking from the front. Halduron, your Rangers are to clear the buildings on either side of the street, I want every corpse shot or stabbed at least twice before moving on. Farstriders, you are with me." So Lor'themar decided to follow Lord Potter's example and be proactive about restoring Silvermoon, leading a sizable strike force into the Western part of the city to reduce the number of the Scourge that remained lurking in the ruins, as well as creating a safe zone from which Civilian Blood Elves could tear down the ruined buildings.

The extra materials would be vital in constructing the additional wall defences that Halduron and the other Farstriders had come up with, whilst the stone was something that Lord Potter had requested for his work restoring the Eastern city wall. It would mean extra re-building when they eventually reclaimed the entire city, but even then it would be years before the Blood Elves would be short of living room, so it was a very handy short term victory for his people to claim.

A moment later Lor'themar saw the Scourge his scout had informed him of, obviously there was still at least one Necromancer hiding in the City as it was a swarm. Dozens of ghouls, zombies and skeletons pouring forth from what had been a Church dedicated to the Light. It still made Lor'themar see red when he thought of what so many dead in the Church meant happened during the Fall, but he managed to control his urge to charge forward to extract vengeance as the wall of decaying flesh and bone came hurtling towards them towards them.

"NOW!" Almost a dozen bottles and vials of a golden substance were thrown over the prepared lines of Farstriders, impacting in and in front of the Scourge forces in a conflagration of flames and heat that would have made Prince Kael'thas proud.

Alchemical fire was not as popular as it used to be when it came to choice of equipment on the battlefield, but it was something his men were able to make with the meagre supplies they had, and it allowed him an effective form of area damage without relying on his mages. He had two of Rommath's best students with him, but they were merely there in case of emergency or to support their withdrawal if they needed it, and this freed up the other Magisters to be used elsewhere.

The flames did a lot of damage, but they were not strong enough to fell all of the undead, more than twenty of the monstrosities using the fallen and charred corpses of their fellows to continue their charge. Three more fell as the Rangers in the surrounding buildings added their fire, and then it was time for the gruesome work to commence.

"Now Blood Elves, for a reborn Quel'thalas!" Lor'themar was moving even as he gave his cry, ancestral blade decapitating the nearest Scourge in a single powerful sweep.

Three more tried to grapple him to the floor as he cut down a second, but Lor'themar danced backwards from their grasp, removing one's arm as he did so. The sounds of combat filled his ears around him, and Lor'themar was glad he had insisted on bringing some of the most skilled Farstriders on this reclamation effort, the men and women cutting down the remaining undead without incident in less time than it took for Lor'themar to look around.

"Is that all of them?" His question was answered a moment later by several affirmative calls from the watching Rangers, which was greeted with several small cheers and smiles from his gathered forces.

Whilst it was barely a strategic victory, as they had cleared less than a 500 m square section of their once glorious city, the morale boost was substantial to say the least. Even better than that, from Lor'themar's point of view at least, it was clear the Scourge hadn't actually done much looting in the houses and homes of the Blood Elves when they looted the city. Everything from clothing to jewellry was being recovered by his workers as they cleared the buildings, and though some of it had degraded with the poor conditions, most of it could be repaired or reworked into usable items easily enough.

Whilst the basic clothes and furniture would be distributed throughout the City to his citizens, Lor'themar had insisted on the rather unpopular measure of confiscating anything that was valuable enough for trade in the name of the City itself. Whilst it would mean that families would lose access to ancestral jewellry and precious gems, unless they had enough money to pay for them at a reduced price, these items would allow him to restock the almost empty coffers of the City treasury without relying even further on the 'Noble' Blood Elves in the Court of the Sun.

"Farstrider Fallowbeam, head back to the reclamation zone and notify High Priest Wavestrider and Quartermaster Allerion that they can send a reclamation party to strip the corpses and prepare them for burning. Make sure to inform the High Priest that we have nearly reached High Beacon church, as I imagine he will want to search it for artefacts, and check whether there has been any news on the other two expeditions." The Elf nodded without hesitation and took off back down the street towards the Western Gate, which was currently in the progress of being repaired.

It wouldn't hold against a prolonged assault, but if they were clearing the city of Scourge Lor'themar didn't want to have their efforts thwarted in the next Scourge assault, even if Lord Potter kept hinting that he had a plan to deal with the issue of the Dead Scar. It probably had something to do with his Necromancy powers, though Lor'themar had decided to save himself the headache of asking for specifics.

He wasn't sure how the general populace would react to the Terran's powers, even with all of the things Lord Potter had done so far, there were very poignant and deep scars within every Blood Elf related to the dark magic. It would take one hell of an act for his people to accept such powers, and though Lor'themar had belief that Lord Potter would be a force for change, he wasn't sure if the Terran could pull off something of that magnitude just yet.

"Lord Regent!" The call came from his left, and as he turned to look Lor'themar saw a bloodied Ranger being supported by two of the Guardians he had brought along to help protect his flanks.

Striding over as quickly as he could, Lor'themar was glad to see that the nearest of the 3 priests accompanying them had already started chanting, Light surrounding the Ranger and beginning to heal his wounds as Lor'themar reached him.

"What happened Ranger, Scourge ambush?" Halduron was already advancing the way the Ranger had come with twin swords drawn, three Rangers covering him with bows half drawn.

"No Lord Regent, we were traversing a side street to return here. Suddenly Aris goes down with no warning and they are all over us, I managed to avoid being captured, but Malefius…" The man was rambling, and Lor'themar knew he wouldn't get any more from him right now.

Leaving him in the care of the other three, Lor'themar began to follow the blood trail down the street, two elite Farstriders falling in behind him as was their duty. They didn't go far, barely two hundred yards through the twisting backstreets before he found his Ranger-General stood by the two bodies the injured Ranger had mentioned, both of which caused his previously mollified concerns to multiply rapidly.

"Lord Regent, the girl was hit by what looks like a crossbow bolt at close range, probably dead by the time she hit the floor. The Farstrider put up more of a fight, judging by the amount of blood on the floor around his body. I can't say with any certainty yet, but judging by the pallor of his skin I would say he's had the mana drained out of him, quickly too given the speed at which the Ranger reached us." Both deaths ruled out the Scourge, which left only one possible enemy, one that every Blood Elf hated/pitied even more than their fallen comrades amongst the Scourge.

"We have a Wretched problem, double the size of all patrols and call for reinforcements from Champion Vranesh to support the salvage teams. They've gotten behind us and that puts the Civilians at risk." Grabbing the female Blood Elf's body and hefting it over his shoulder Lor'themar remained cautious as they moved back towards the Main Street, given the success of one ambush the Wretched may well be planning another one anytime.

Thankfully it seemed that the Wretched weren't prepared to push their luck just yet, the four of them returning to the main body of the assault force without incident, though the bodies of the two fallen Blood Elves dampened the mood significantly. If it hadn't been for the Wretched, this would have been the first assault into the Western Ruins that hadn't had a single casualty.

"We shall perform the full Rite of the Blaze when we fall back this evening, for now our comrades rest with us. Ranger-General, take ten men, find how the Wretched got behind us and where they are hiding. There are enough of our treacherous kin who think that the Traitor will return them to their former decadence amongst the Scourge for us to deal with, we deal with this splinter group here and now. The rest of us will continue our advance to the Church, which we can establish as a secured outpost if Lord Potter comes through with his offer to reclaim some of the Dead Scar from the corruption that is embedded there."

Gone were the smiles and buoyant atmosphere from before, now there only remained grim determination and resolve, to make sure that their kindred did not die in vain...

!"£$%^&*()_+

"That battlement needs reinforcing, the damage to the wall beneath it has caused it to buckle, but the Elves can do the battlement when you've fixed the wall itself." It had been a long few days for Storri, though the fight on the first day had been fun, being stuck around this many Elves had not been conducive for his usually jovial mood.

The mental joke about his own character did make him smile slightly, something that was only enhanced as he watched Harry morph the wall in front of them. Rather than extracting the minerals he needed from the ground itself now, Harry had been using the masonry and materials that the Blood Elves had been digging out of the Western Ruins of Silvermoon to 'reinvigorate' the City's Southern Wall. It meant the walls weren't quite the perfect white of the Needle, but they were still far stronger than the original wall and according to Harry it was far easier for him to do magically.

"I think this will be the last section for now Harry, you can't rely on Mage water too heavily otherwise you might become addicted." Given they had already remodelled almost three miles of wall at this point, and the fact that the sun was about to set, Storri merely shrugged non-committedly as Harry looked over to him in response to Nash'ala's polite but pointed instruction.

"I don't mind continuing a little longer lad, but that's merely because there's nothing else for us to do around here other than work or fighting the Scourge, these people won't swap what little alcohol they have for any reasonable amount of gold. I have booked passage on a grain ship returning to the South in the morning, though I will tell King Bronzebeard that you will probably be delayed with your visit. I have no idea how the Banshee is planning on getting here, but from the sounds of it she isn't coming by sea, so you should be prepared for a rough trip back if you are planning on travelling to the Undercity with her when she leaves."

Storri chuckled as Harry gave him a pointed look in response to the way he referred to the Leader of the Forsaken, just because Harry had to play nice with the 'good' undead didn't mean he had to. Though there hadn't been any official conflicts between the Alliance and the Horde, the number of Alliance caravans and scouting forces 'ambushed by the Scourge' in areas that the Forsaken were known to hold was high enough to have people talking rather mutinously at the best of times.

"Here." Harry seemed to decide that he had in fact had enough repair work for the day, three of his little magic trinkets flying through the air a moment later, Storri grasping all of them with a single swipe of his meaty hand.

"I imagine that the Blood Elf traders will be far more willing to trade you some booze for these, I've heard that some of these are going for almost 50 silver on the less than legal markets, though if you do find someone trading in them commercially let me know. All of the trinkets I've given out should only have been used by the Elves I've given them to, if the Guardians aren't shutting down the black market then I will."

As much as the idea of the trinkets being stolen/extorted from poor Blood Elves was distasteful, Storri was more amused by Harry's overly noble attitude, if the Terran was any more righteous then he would probably end up leading what was left of the Silver Hand in a few years. It would probably do the group good now that Storri thought about it, after the fall of Prince Arthas and the death of Uther Lightbringer the group had fractured into so many factions it barely had an inkling of power and influence in Azeroth any longer.

"I'll have a look lad, but you can't do all the work for these greedy bastards… Don't look at me like that, you know I don't mean all of them, but that  _noble_  represents the view of more of these Blood Elves than even Coira would admit to." It had happened early on the second day, when Harry and Storri had been up as dawn broke, the two of them heading through the Court of the Sun to try and find some food.

Given the speed that they had been confronted, Storri had no doubt that they were being watched by at least one group, a very opulently dressed Blood Elf blocking their path with a small group of bodyguards and servants. The Noble tried to be subtle about his demands, which merely meant that Harry lost track of what he was talking about almost instantly, but it effectively turned into 'stop giving out your trinkets, or else'.

It had taken a couple of tries, Storri wasn't the best at doing hand gestures to describe words after all, but Harry seemed to understand judging by the glare he threw in the Noble's direction whilst drawing his sword. Despite being outnumbered Storri hadn't been worried, just because he didn't have his crossbow didn't mean he couldn't fight, and that was ignoring the fact Harry could crush them all without much help.

"And the fact that the Noble is still walking around like an affronted peacock after the Guardians 'arrested' him makes that very clear Storri, I am more than aware that I can't solve every problem in this city, especially as some of the people are the problem." Huh, Storri was surprised by the level of pragmatism that single statement displayed the Terran had been hiding from him, even if he had no idea what this 'peacock' thing was.

"Good, but don't let that change your attitude lad, just because I can be a little pessimistic at times doesn't mean I can't see how much you've already changed for these people. Now if you could stop them joining the Horde…" Harry's rolling of his eyes made it clear that Storri wasn't going to get anywhere with his attempt to rehash the conversation they had muddled through several times already, so he let it rest and bid the two of them farewell.

Whilst the 50,000 Blood Elves in Silvermoon City wouldn't completely unhinge the balance of power between the Alliance and the Horde, the additional strength of their Farstriders and Rangers would be something that would make the warmongers on both sides all that more vicious in their efforts to bring about the war they sought. Whilst Storri didn't think of himself as an ambassador of the Dwarven people, not that he would have been able to stomach the pomp and bureaucracy that came with such a position even if it was offered, the chance to prevent a potential war was something that he couldn't just ignore.

It was actually the reason that he was leaving so early into their stay in Silvermoon, when he had originally said he would stay for the full week with Harry and the others. Whilst there wasn't exactly a negative relationship between the Dwarves and the Blood Elves, there definitely wasn't anything remotely related to a positive relationship either.

He wasn't sure whether King Magni would listen to him, which was why Storri would sort the arrival of the Terran ambassador first, but as far as Storri could see there were only two reasons that the Blood Elves would ally with the Horde. The first was the fact that many of the Forsaken were fallen High Elves themselves and therefore shared a level of kinship with each other, and there was nothing that the Dwarves would be able to do about that.

But if he could get the Council to set up a trade route for things like building materials and construction craftsmen, which the Blood Elves were sorely lacking in given their previous reliance on the Sunwell, then there was a chance to attack the second need which was support and assistance in their fight against the Scourge.

Whilst it would be a tough sell, Storri imagined that even the staunchest of blowhard relics that made up the Dwarven Council would be able to argue against preventing the Horde from gaining even more military forces…

!"£$%^&*()_+

"Please, I need to feed…" The cries of the Fallen Blood Elf were audible from the moment Harry stepped into the Southern Holding Cell building, where she had been placed by the Silvermoon Guardians.

Judging by the looks of frustration and annoyance on the faces of the three Guardians based in the entrance room, this pleading hadn't been a recent occurrence.

"Has this been going on long?" Harry didn't feel the need to expand on what he meant, the two of them had only been gone three hours after all, after his first attempt at getting the Fallen to talk had ended in a temporary failure.

"About an hour after you left Lord Potter, though it started with threats and screaming for twenty minutes or so first… Thank the Sunwell…" The Guardians relief was easily visible at the pause in the Fallen's pleading, for the whole of five seconds before her voice returned, this time softer and far more respectful than it had been when Harry first spoke to her.

"Is that you human? Please, let me have some of the magic and I will answer any questions you ask!" Harry grinned before nodding to the Guardians and striding through the main room to the cells, Nash'ala following closely behind him.

There were a dozen large cells, obviously intended to hold potential criminals in large groups rather than individually, and in the furthest cell from the door was the Fallen. She had been extracted from her earthen confines whilst he had been healed, and instead chained to the far wall, on a chain so short she could barely extend her arms above her shoulders.

"My Lord." To Harry's surprise she dropped into the best kneeling position her restraints would allow.

"I apologise for my earlier behaviour my Lord, the hunger, it pulls at my mind. It is all I can do not to give in and become that screaming mess I was before. Please, your artefact, let me taste it…" Harry could only assume the Fallen had been listening in when he had been speaking to the Guardians, as he had never mentioned his lordship in his attempts to speak with the Fallen earlier.

And though he could tell the desperation was real, how much of her willingness to talk after sating her hunger a little he wasn't so sure, though the special modifications he had made to the cell would definitely make her more compliant in the long term. Runes littered the walls and bars in a specific pattern, absorbing any magic that attempted to pass through it into the area inside the cell and feeding it into the goblet that Harry had left about three feet from the Fallen, just outside the distance she could reach even with her feet.

It was an interrogation tactic that worked brilliantly against the demons they captured on Earth, who also hungered for magic in a way that Harry had found disturbing at the time, the anti-magic field as well as the temptation of the concentrated magic just out reach in front of them a very tempting proposition to say the least. The fact that the goblet was literally glowing with magic showed Harry how much more ambient magic Azeroth had than Earth, especially with the Death Magic in the air lessened by his Hallows spell when he was fighting Dar'Khan.

With a flick of his wand, one of the pebbles he had in one of his waist pouches floated in front of him before turning into a small ring, Harry consciously putting as little magic into the spell as he could. Seeing the Fallen's eyes fixed on what he was doing, Harry levitated the ring into the cell and into the Fallen's reach, the Fallen grabbing it and pulling it to her mouth. To his surprise she didn't immediately devour the trinket's magic entirely, though as she finished taking a deep breath of sucking the ring's magic into her, the ring's surface looked distinctly more stone-like in nature.

"Clever, for a human, and not foolish enough to give me a lot of magic just because I begged for it. This will sate me for a few minutes, and I know if I want to survive beyond the next few hours I need to keep you appeased and happy with what I tell you." Harry cocked his eyebrow at the fact she thought he would have her killed if she didn't answer her questions, the Fallen's smirk widening for a moment before she gestured back up the row of cells towards the guard room.

"Based on the fact you took me alive, I do not think you would kill me so quickly, especially given your rather inventive way of denying my thirst for magic. It is my own kind that would kill me without a second thought, and they have implied that if you didn't have plans for me they would have killed me hours ago. Despite my 'Wretched' status, I have no plans on dying to fulfill my eternal hunger for a few moments, so I plan on making myself as helpful to you as possible." The sheer venom that the Fallen managed to inject into the word many Blood Elves used to describe her kind was impressive if nothing else, and what she was saying made a lot of sense.

Her demeanour had changed almost completely, both from the almost subservient manner she had addressed him just now, but also a far cry from the uncontrollable fury that she had exhibited when he had first captured her. This new demeanour was probably the closest to her real personality as he was going to get for now, so Harry conjured himself and Nash'ala chairs and sat himself down.

"Incredible, such an inventive use of magic, I don't suppose I could earn a similar chair or something similar? Even before you sucked the magic from the area, I have been here for at least two days at my best guess, and putting all of my weight on my arms isn't conducive to maintaining my... friendly demeanour." It was said so sarcastically that Harry wasn't surprised when Nash'ala gave a short giggle from his left, though the Naga then proceeded to to raise her arm and show the pair of bracers that had been used to prevent her from using magic.

"We have questions, but we also have a proposition for you, if you complete both tasks to our satisfaction, then we might arrange some more suitable lodgings for you." Nash'ala's rather stern response obviously confused the Fallen, before she looked at Harry and smiled wickedly.

"And here I thought you were meant to be the harsh one in this interrogation, if this is you being nice then you and I might get along after all. But it's not exactly like I am in the position to walk out of here if I don't like your demands, so ask away." It was more cooperative than Harry expected, but if she was telling the truth about the other Blood Elves wanting her dead, then getting on his good side was almost her only choice.

"Before I start asking you actual questions, what's your name? I don't want to keep referring to you as 'Fallen' or worse if I can avoid it." The Fallen's gaze turned almost calculating at his initial question, before her smile returned almost sincerely.

"The names Harzlen Quintellen, you are the first to ask me that since I became...this." Harzlen gestured at herself almost mockingly for a moment, before continuing before Harry could ask another question.

"I lost control shortly after our people returned to Quel'thalas, I had a little sister and couldn't afford to pay for both of us to get the manastones we needed. When it started to happen I locked myself away and told my sister to run, as I couldn't control myself as the hunger started to take hold." She looked him straight in the eye at this point, and Harry could see the glint of madness deep inside those deep brown eyes, before she took another gasp of magic from his trinket, the ring returning to it's original pebble form as she almost sighed in relief.

"I was given a choice by the Guardians, not that death or exile is much of a choice, and I fled into the ruins of the Western districts. I survived off rats and other vermin, as well as the occasional looter or Necromancers. I am not claiming to be a Paladin, I did feast on the occasional Blood Elf scout as the hunger worsened, but I always managed to stop myself before I killed them, and I left them as close to the Eastern Gates as I dared." It would be possible to confirm that with one of the High Guardians, as Harry didn't particularly feel like dealing with Champion Vranesh if he could avoid it.

"But even that wasn't enough, and I started to lose more and more of myself as the hunger deepened. Do you know what that is like? To feel your mind, your personality being ripped away from you and there being  _nothing_  you can do about it?" Before Harry could respond, Harzlen continued in a far happier tone.

"And then, just when I was thinking of heading out into the Ghostlands to try and take out as many of the undead as I could before they killed me, I met him…" Harzlen's voice almost took on a dreamy tone as she trailed off, and only when Harry coughed did she continue.

"He wasn't like the rest of us, he hadn't become a Wretched, and when he spoke he was so confident and accepting…" Harry had a sinking feeling about who she meant, doing his best to not sigh in disappointment as Harzlen suddenly snapped out of her daze and carried on in the same dreamy tone.

"He works for some guy high up in the Scourge, and for the next 6 months we did simple things like intercepting certain Scourge caravans, hiding caches of supplies and in return I got enough mana to sate my hunger and I got to spend all my time with him." Harry resisted the urge to frown, the way Harzlen was speaking made it sound more like whoever she was talking about was working for Dar'Khan, but the jobs she was describing didn't sound like something the man would do if he was merely leading the Scourge forces to retake Quel'thalas.

"Who is this 'him' you keep referring to Harzlen? And where can I find him?" Harzlen suddenly snapped out of her dreamy expression and looked slightly panicked.

"You really don't want to meet him, he gets in your head and can make you do things you would never have done without a second thought! When he told me we were leading an attack on Silvermoon City and I would have the chance to turn my sister into a Wretched like me, do you know what I did?" Her tone became harder and she almost ground her teeth, reverting more to the vengeful creature she had been when Harry first talked to her.

"I smiled! He was talking about me subjecting my sister to this same fate that I am suffering, and I was  **excited**  about it. I don't know whether it's your wards preventing whatever magic he has working on me, or whether it's because this is the first time I have been away from him for more than a few hours in over a year, but all of a sudden I can actually see what he has done to me…" It was almost like there were two separate people stuck in the Fallen's head, as the tone suddenly changed back a moment later, a sickly smile appearing on her face.

"But I would do it of course, for my Magister J…"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This isn't going to actually be the Joker appearing in the story, sorry to disappoint, but the fun little 'cameo' helps explain two important points that would help explain a lot about what Dar'Khan's actual plans were. He talks a big game, but even with some of the power of the Sunwell (as all of it would have fried him), he would not have been able to defeat the Scourge and storm Icecrown by himself.
> 
> So, rather than kill all of the Blood Elves and raise them as Scourge which he does not command by himself, Dar'Khan has traitor Blood Elves 'recruiting' and turning the Wretched to his cause. These Wretched would then be the cannon fodder he needs for his plan to unseat Arthas as Leader of the Scourge.
> 
> It also shows another dirty side to the Blood Elves desperate attempts to survive, casting out those who turn as they cannot risk the magic depletion the Wretched cause in the local area, if they don't kill them straight out. They gloss over it in the game, but you spend the first 10 levels of being a Blood Elf killing those who were once your friends and family, and then you spend the next 10 levels killing them again when they are raised as the Scourge.
> 
> I have also tried to use this chapter to show this isn't all about Harry, the Blood Elves are doing their own parts to re secure Silvermoon, though of course most of them aren't the force of nature that Harry or Rommath are.
> 
> Some people were unclear as who Dar'Khan was, and others who knew who he was were surprised that a lvl 20 was giving Harry such a hard time. To explain both points, Dar'Khan is the traitor High Elf that sold Quel'thalas out to Arthas by providing him with the items he needed to bypass the barrier the Elves had erected defending their territory. He then tried to claim the Sunwell's power for himself but was then forced to withdraw after being injured.
> 
> The important point is that before the end of the Sunwell Trilogy (which will probably happen in the next chapter), Dar'Khan is a badass who fights DRAGONS for amusement and even ignoring some of the more ridiculous lore is probably a challenge for Kel'thuzad in terms of base magical power and ability. Without revealing any spoilers, the power difference between before and after Sunwell Trilogy Dar'Khan is the equivalent of comparing Lord Voldemort to a muggle.
> 
> On a different note entirely, I have finally played World of Warcraft for the first time! :P Not entirely sure it is something to be pleased about, but it helped me get a better understanding of Silvermoon and Eversong Woods, as well as giving me names of some of the Wretched named characters to use going forward.
> 
> Finally, this is the last chapter that will follow the rather nuts once a week schedule I have managed to set recently. I am having to do some adulting now in buying a house, which all of a sudden means I have to work out how to spend my free time earning some more money. So unfortunately for you guys, not as much time on this or my other stories.
> 
> Let me know what you think guys!
> 
> Defias out


	17. The Battle of Silvermoon City

"Another 3 patrols were ambushed yesterday, and though they drove off the Wretc… Fallen attackers we still lost two of our junior Guardians in the skirmishes. I say we just torch the entire ruin and be done with the problem entirely." Coira only just resisted the urge to shake her head at Vranesh, every time the man opened his mouth it was as if he was deliberately trying to antagonise someone in the room.

He was at least remembering to use the 'proper' term for their former brethren now, though quite how much the Lord Regent had to browbeat him into doing so was anyone's guess.

"You will do no such thing, even with the price degradation due to poor upkeep and weathering, our forces have already reclaimed 20,000 gold's worth of treasures and artefacts that we thought lost to the Scourge for ever. This is the first month in a year that we will be able to repay the interest on the loans we have taken, without being forced to ask for the 'help' of the Court of the Sun. We even managed to use the money, saved on the weapons and armour that has been salvaged and repurposed, to close out one of the more minor loans entirely." Quartermaster Allerion was not much of a people person, which was why he was completely tactless in focusing on the monetary aspects of the reclamation, rather than the personal cost associated with such gains.

It had been a week and a half since she and Harry had arrived in Silvermoon, and the place had changed so much in that time that it had brought more than one Blood Elf to tears, as they approached Harry with whatever meagre gifts they had to offer him. Looking across the room, to where the tired looking Terran was sat on one of his 'been bags', Coira couldn't help but smile.

Rather than just accept or reject the gifts, that some of the Blood Elves couldn't afford to give him from the looks of it, Harry had taken the time to speak with each and every one of them. In addition, he had used his magic to repair and brighten their clothes or transform their hair into elaborate and fancy styles. This was something Coira doubted any Magister would do, as it would be seen as a 'waste of magic' or 'not worth their attention'.

It was a small thing in comparison to repairing the entire Southern Wall, or facing off against Dar'Khan, but it suddenly meant that even the civilian Blood Elves were starting to feel like they could actually return to something approaching a normal life.

"The clearing operation is valuable to us, both in terms of morale and the goods we can liberate, but only so long as we can prevent the Scourge or the Fallen from overrunning it again if they attack once more. Champion Balic, Lady Liadrin, how are we doing fortifying the River crossings?" The male Paladin gestured to the woman next to him to speak, which surprised more than just Coira given the slight noises around the room.

But the former Paladin ignored it as she pointed down at the 3-D model of Silvermoon, that Harry had created for them to use with his earthen magic, when the Lord Regent started talking seriously about retaking land around Quel'thalas.

Coira knew Lady Liadrin by reputation, one of the most powerful Priestesses of the Light that had been serving in the High Elf ranks when the Scourge attacked. But the last Coira had known, Liadrin had headed out into the Ghostlands over a year ago, completely disillusioned with the Light due to what had happened to their people. Grand Magister Rommath had returned with her, when his strike force taken the small island of Eversong to the South West of the City, which would serve as an ideal location for farming if they could secure the bridge to the island suitably.

"We have fortified the other two main river crossings with traps, defensive enchantments and a small watchtower each, though we plan on expanding that to a full outpost if we can obtain some magical assistance." Everyone knew she was talking about Harry at this point, but Lady Liadrin seemed determined not to address him directly or refer to him favourably, perhaps due to her belief that Quel'thalas' current state was caused by the Humans of Azeroth more than anything else.

"In addition to the three minor crossings known to us on the seaward side of the River Elrendar, I identified four more areas closer to the Lake that could afford the Scourge a crossing if they were sufficiently determined. We will set up observation posts at each minor crossing, so that if an assault does occur the enemy will not catch us by surprise, as well as enough traps that anything short of a large assault force would be decimated." Despite Coira's misgivings, someone who abandons her people to go on a death quest shouldn't be instantly reinstated to their original position of responsibility in her opinion, Lady Liadrin seemed to have maintained her skill at commanding and organisation if nothing else.

"Excellent news, that improves the security of our Southern Flank at least, but it won't be enough to stop a determined Scourge assault without massive casualties, and we cannot afford such a conflict. Lord Potter, I know you have been busy with your work on the walls, as well as supplying additional mana items to our citizenry, but do you think you can do anything about the Dead Scar? It is our biggest tactical weakness right now, and whilst I know it is asking a lot, given our own experts think there is nothing that can be done…" The Lord Regent paused as Nash'ala started hissing to Harry, which she only did now to make sure he understood entire requests, as his Common was good enough now without his translation rune that he didn't have it active except in cases where he needed to speak for some time.

"I have a plan, something that one of my abilities grants me should definitely allow me to do  _something_  to the Dead Scar, though I need to spend some time studying it without certain… limitations. And to do that, I will need to not have any of your more, close minded subjects interrupting me." Obviously this was one of those times, Harry looking to the Lord Regent obviously intending to reveal his inherent talent with Death Magic to the Council.

It was a clever move, as either Lor'themar introduced his abilities and therefore gave his approval and support which would mitigate the Council's reaction, or he didn't and risked losing the support of the Terran in restoring Silvermoon City.

"Lord Potter has revealed to me that he has been bestowed with an affinity with what he calls 'Death Magic' due to some unique circumstances related to his origin on Earth. He keeps his power shackled through the use of his cloak, which is specially enhanced for that purpose, as he knows that there are negative connotations to such magic here." It was a cover story, Coira knew that based on what she had been privy to before they arrived here.

But unless the Lord Regent specifically asked her, and pressed her for what she knew, Coira saw no reason to add the little extra she had been entrusted with.

"You mean we have been harbouring a Necromancer amongst us!" Lady Liadrin was already on her feet, Champion Vranesh following her in drawing his sword, Liadrin prepping her own blades before firing a hammer of pure light across the room.

They were in the clear minority however, a golden barrier surrounding Harry and blocking the hammer's flight with a deep clang, as the two moved forward aggressively. The source of the barrier became obvious, with Champion Balic hefting his two handed hammer to his shoulder, a task he completed with deceptive ease given it's weight.

"Just because the Lord Regent has acquiesced to Prince Kael'thas' order, to create the little band of Blood Knights Grand Magister Rommath has given you command of, does not give you the authority to attempt murder on one of our honoured guests Lady Liadrin. Now, get your attack dog to sit back down and sheathe your weapons. I do not know what has given you the belief you needed to reignite your Light powers, but if needed I will be more than happy to test that faith, I imagine I will find it wanting…"

Whatever civility had been between the Paladin and his former comrade was shattered, obviously Champion Balic did not agree with the creation of another political and military organisation within Silvermoon's already convoluted political landscape.

It seemed that Lady Liadrin could read the mood of the room though, and it was only after the Blood Knight Commander backed down and sheathed her weapon, did Coira realise she had drawn her own without thinking about it. She stowed them away as the barrier began to fade, Harry not having even shifted from his relaxed posture, Regent Lor'themar speaking up again a moment later in a cold tone that made his disapproval over Lady Liadrin's actions clear.

"And that is exactly the reaction that Lord Potter predicted from some of our kind. I know you were not here at the time Lady Liadrin, but given how much more inflated the tales get each day about his fight with Traitor Dar'Khan you must have heard the stories by now. If you cannot control your reactions, then I will excuse you from this meeting and when I convene the Council for the…" The Lord Regent paused mid-speech with a frown, and a moment later Coira heard it to, the tolling of a very low pitched bell joined moments later by the sound of other bells.

"Scourge attack, Grand Magister…" Harry was already gone with the softest of pops, even as the others all gathered their weapons and waited as the Grand Magister began chanted.

Now Coira could only hope that the work they had put into place was going to be enough…

!"£$%^&*()_+

"Keep going Rangers, we are nearly there!" Even as she gave the order, Sylvanas wasn't entirely sure whether the Blood Elves would be able to withstand the wave of Scourge that were surging to life around them, for every Scourge she or her Dark Rangers felled it seemed as if five appeared to take it's place.

Originally they had planned on approaching Silvermoon from the South East, travelling around Lake Elrendar to avoid the concentrations of Scourge that covered her former home, but Sylvanas had wanted to take the more direct route to surprise Lor'themar. She knew that her people were not in the best position to join the Horde, given their situation she was surprised they were still able to hold Silvermoon at all, but they would do their best to hide their difficulties from her out of pride if nothing else.

As she dodged out of the way of an attacking Nerubian, short sword flashing out from her waist to stab deep into it's cranium as she passed, Sylvanas couldn't help but wonder if she should have been a little more cautious after all.

"I see the river!" The shout from her leading Dark Ranger was aptly timed, as even the Forsaken tired from exertion and they had run nearly flat out for the last two miles whilst engaging in combat.

Concentrating for a moment, Sylvanas let out a banshee howl that stunned most of the Scourge surrounding them, providing them with the breathing space they needed to breakthrough. As they got closer however, Sylvanas was surprised to see dozens of dead Scourge littering the area, either through traps or from arrow fire, and she could hear the tolling of bells from what she had assumed was a Scourge camp on the other side of the river.

"Ambus...Argh!" It was only when one of her Rangers caught an arrow to the arm did Sylvanas realise that the Blood Elves had in fact retaken the far side of the river, and that given the vast number of undead attacking them the defenders weren't really looking before they were shooting.

"For fuck's sake, Rangers, fall back and to one side of the crossing to defend yourselves." There were some piles of earth and stones that could be used as cover, though as more arrows began to fly their way Sylvanas was rapidly losing her temper.

"This is Ranger General Sylvanas! Stop shooting and guide us across!" She wasn't sure if her shout would even be heard, let alone listened to or acknowledged, but the arrow fire seemed to drop off over the next minute or so.

Just because they weren't being shot at by their erstwhile allies didn't improve their situation greatly though, as they were still stuck on the wrong side of what was undoubtedly a trapped river crossing, with a massive Scourge onslaught approaching. Her Rangers kept their cool, most of them climbing on the mounds of earth to get a better vantage point. She gestured to five of them, who drew their long blades to deal with any Scourge that got too close, but it was only a temporary stand at best.

Summoning her magic, Sylvanas unleashed a wave of Black arrows, targeting the few Necromancers or Nerubians she could make out amongst the rapidly encroaching swarm. There were enough of the undead that some were being crushed by other Scourge as they advanced, and as they got to within 50 metres of them Sylvanas was prepared to risk the losses she would incur retreating across the fo…

"Lady Sylvanas. You seem busy." The calm voice from next to her nearly gave Sylvanas the heart attack she knew was impossible for her body to achieve, sword half drawn before the earth around her Rangers  _moved_  and her mind recognised the voice speaking to her.

"Your timing is impeccable Lord Potter, though if we are going to continue this conversation I would suggest we withdraw to a safer location?" Even as the earth formed a wall around them, complete with what looked like a stake filled moat, Sylvanas turned to their saviour.

She was surprised when he didn't instantly respond, the man looking at her confusedly for a moment before speaking.

"My common is not very good my Lady, I do not understand… all of what you say? We should go."

Go where? Sylvanas' initial frustration at the situation was compounded by the Terran's confident remark, though as she turned to gesture at the crossing, Sylvanas found a stone bridge constructing itself from the leftover materials and the ground itself. It was also at this point that Sylvanas noticed two of her Rangers pointing their weapons in the Terran's direction, which she stopped with a dismissive wave of her hand before gesturing at the bridge.

"Anya, lead the others over the bridge and provide support fire from there, Lord Potter and I will hold them here as long as we can before following." The ten Dark Rangers managed to look hesitant as a group, but none of them dared disobey a direct order from her, though a couple lingered longer than they needed to whilst providing 'cover' to their retreating comrades.

"Harry." The more informal use of his name rather than his title caused Harry to smirk, even as a wave of his wand caused a dozen earthen warriors to start pulling themselves from the earth.

"We fight here, then fall back." Her use of simpler language, as well as some basic gestures, seemed to make the plan much clearer to Harry as he nodded a moment later.

Reaching out with her mind, Sylvanas summoned the spirits of the dead High Elves in the area, of which the incredible number still brought a stabbing pain to her heart. Pulling on her mana, she connected them to the bones of the fallen resting in the area and unleashed them with a simple command, gain your revenge. Skeletons pulled themselves from the earth outside their little barricade, many drawing the weapons they fell with before falling upon the Scourge.

They wouldn't last long, it was getting to the point where Sylvanas was struggling to see anything but Scourge in front of them, hundreds of them sweeping past them to try and ford the river as ghouls leapt at the earthen golems who were manning the shoulder high wall. There had to be 10,000 Scourge here already, and Sylvanas didn't doubt that thousands more were on the move.

Still, she hadn't felt so...close to alive since she deposed of the Dreadlords and took control of the Forsaken, unleashing a charged black arrow towards the swarm and then slamming the blade section of her bow into an attacking ghoul. Had she allowed herself to become so mired in running the Undercity and it's bureaucracy?

"Time to move!" Her cry was prompted by an abomination bursting through the wall Harry had created, crushing two of the golems beneath its bulk, as undead poured into the small amount of breathing room they had.

She turned to run, when Harry grabbed her arm and a rather uncomfortable sensation came over her, as if she had just forced her body to do something it shouldn't be able to.

"My Lady!" The voice of Anya Eversong, one of her former lieutenants who fell with her during the Fall, made Sylvanas realise what her eyes were trying to tell her.

She could see the abomination impaled on an earthen spike almost half its size, but it was suddenly almost fifty metres away, and on the other side of the River Elrendar to boot. There wasn't much time to think about the teleportation she had just undergone, as the first Scourge were nearly across the river, so Sylvanas drew back her bow to distract herself the best way she knew how.

"Keep them busy, then go to the city!" The floating bridge suddenly morphed into a giant slab, slamming into the Scourge crossing the river and scattering them like leaves in the face of a whirlwind, and Harry was gone once more.

"You heard Lord Potter, fight to your last ten arrows and then start falling back. Anya, take one and get Allera out of here, she's no use until we can get that arrow out. Shia, go talk to whoever is in charge of the outpost, we will need support if we are going to hold them here. Make sure they know we are withdrawing to the City, they won't be able to hold against this onslaught for long."

Sylvanas only hoped the Blood Elves were in a better state than she had mentally assessed from the reports of the Horde 'merchants' visiting the city, otherwise a lot of them were going to die…

[]{}#%^*+=

"I need a Priest here!" With a badly mauled Farstrider barely able to grip his shoulder, Harry wasn't overly shocked that he surprised more than one of the rapidly assembling Blood Elves on the battlements, but as two of them rushed to take the Farstrider from him Harry didn't have time to care about their delicate sensibilities.

The last 30 minutes or so had been a flurry of fighting and apparitions, his initial rescue of Lady Sylvanas and her party followed by apparating to the other two river crossings, to assess whether the swarm at the main crossing was a singular occurrence.

"Make room!" Moving through the Blood Elves to get to the Needle of Clay, Harry vaulted up the steps, to where the rest of the Blood Elf Council were looking out at the rapidly darkening horizon.

The feelings of fear and despair were amplifying around him every second, a cruel reminder that the initial swarm would only be part of the problem. Nash'ala and Coira were there as well, the Naga gripping the staff that Harry had purchased for her with the kind of possessiveness that he didn't normally see outside of the Goblin's on Earth.

Harzlen had been able to remove the magic from the enchanted bracelets containing Nash'ala's magic, without hurting the Naga's own magical system, the loss of magic allowing Harry to vanish them from her before they could recharge. Nash'ala had been practicing each and every little bit of Terran magic he had taught her since, with a fervour that he had only previously heard being used to describe people of religious backgrounds.

As he finished a quick survey of the towers rather packed interior, there were almost 100 people crammed in the space usually meant for about half that number, he heard Lor'themar speak his name. Turning back to where the Regent was stood in full battle armour, Harry quickly activated the translation rune to Nash'ala, now was not the time to be worrying about translation issues.

"Lord Potter, we feared the worst when the main outpost fell back to the gates without you. Lady Sylvanas has told us you were incremental in assisting them stay ahead of the Scourge onslaught, so you have my thanks for aiding one of our firmest allies." Unlike the others, Lor'themar was maintaining a tight control of his emotions, a controlled and relaxed manner that no doubt helped calm the others around him a little.

"I went to relieve the watches on the other river crossings, the first I reached before the Scourge forces fully crossed the river, the other was already being overwhelmed when I arrived. I managed to portkey two of your men back to the city and brought another personally, but the other two had already fallen." The positive of saving 8 Blood Elves was somewhat dampened by the loss of two more, but at this point any good news was desperately needed.

"Look at it…" Champion Vranesh was far from his usual pompous self as he gazed out at the masses of undead that were moving towards Silvermoon, slower than they had been when they first breached the river.

"There must be thousands of them…" That was a  _vast_  understatement in Harry's opinion, his best guess at this point was at least 60,000 to 80,000 Scourge undead, and that wasn't considering any of those Grotesques, Flesh Golems or Necromancers amongst the Swarm.

"And if that isn't bad enough, our Scouts reported seeing the traitor fly over the Western Ruins on some monstrous Dragon. Given his flight direction, there can be no doubt he is headed to Quel'Danar. Whilst the Sunwell and it's power are gone, whatever he is planning cannot be good, given this is his attempt to keep us from stopping him. I know I have already asked a lot of you Lord Potter, but would you be able to assist Lady Liadrin and Champion Balic in leading Silvermoon's defence?"

Whilst Harry was more expecting to be asked to engage Dar'Khan again, he understood that there was a lot of personal consideration behind Lor'themar and the other Blood Elves wanting their revenge on the man personally. Whether they would succeed or not was another question, but if he didn't prevent the Scourge from overrunning Silvermoon all of his work in aiding the Blood Elves would have been pointless in the first place.

"I wouldn't teleport directly there, given what I have seen of your magic, he would have ample time to prepare to destroy you as you pass through it. Champion Balic, Lady Liadrin, what is the plan?" It was clear that his advice had struck Grand Magister Rommath by surprise, but he nodded a moment later as he started chanting.

"We have 40 of our best Farstriders ready to accompany the Lord Regent, to help deal with any Scourge the Traitor raises in defence of himself. Every other Guardian and Farstrider are manning the walls, Lady Sylvanas is graciously leaving her Dark Rangers to aid us whilst she accompanies the Strike force. Our Paladins and Blood Knights are preparing to defend the main points of attack, given your assistance with repairing the walls, they will be the main weak points." The gates, even if the Scourge were just to charge the walls without any strategy that would make sense, though Harry suspected Dar'Khan would have left someone in charge of this force to target them specifically.

A co-ordinated Scourge attack would be far more terrifying than a swarm, especially in such numbers, and that would keep the Blood Elves focus far more on the attack rather than what Dar'Khan was doing. And given the slowing of the undead advance, to allow them to properly 'form up' as it were, that scenario was looking increasingly likely.

"Send out the word to get every pitcher of oil, flask of Alchemist Fire and anything else similar brought to the South Wall and onto the ramparts. I will be able to protect the gates from the heat, and fire will be our best weapon against the Scourge assault." Turning to where the 10 Dark Ranger's were stood, Harry decided to try and work with them given their leader had just passed through Rommath's portal, he could leave the majority of the defence to the the two Blood Elves.

"How do you feel about helping me with a trap? Apologies, I don't know any of your names…" There was a moment of silence before one of them stepped forward.

"Dark Ranger Anya Lord Potter. Lady Sylvanas told us you wouldn't care, and I would never doubt the General…" Which was the polite way of saying she had doubted Sylvanas but would never have let that be said.

But as the screeching noises started to get louder, Harry knew he had more pressing things to worry about.

"You can work out whether you trust me or not later, for now you merely have to decide if you want to help me kill a load of these bastards." Calls and orders were beginning to make it clear the Blood Elves were readying themselves.

Though, as the swarm began to form on this side of the river under a dark cloud of those grotesques and other undead fliers, Harry wondering if readiness was going to help them very much at all.

"Tell us where you need us…" Anya's reply brought him back to the present with a small grin, though he had one last person to speak to.

"Coira." The woman almost seemed surprised to be addressed, though as she focused on him Harry could feel her determination.

"Protect Nash'ala okay? She needs to power our artillery…" Whilst he hadn't been sure something like this would happen, as the Naga moved towards the special artillery piece he had set up using his magic, Harry was glad that he had started with teaching Nash'ala one spell in particular…

[]{}#%^*+=

"We are preparing our forces Milord, though I would prefer to wait for…" That was as far as the senior Necromancer got, before he was cut off with a sigh from the dark purple orb he was holding in his hand.

"There is no time Freed, no doubt my kindred have noticed my flight to the site of the Sunwell. Ready the attack, and then your forces can be reinforced by those from the Ghostlands as they arrive. Now do your duty, and do not distract me further!"

Necromancer Julian Freed had been a member of the Cult of the Damned for almost 30 years, drawn into their ranks as a young teenager with the promises of power and forbidden magics. Unlike the other members of the Cell he had belonged to, Julian had shown enough magical talent to attract the attention of one of the Necromancers, an adept working with the great Kel'thuzad himself.

From there it had been a slow and steady rise through the ranks, as Lord Arthas rampaged through Lordaeron and Quel'thalas. Though he desired to ascend to become a Liche for the promise of Immortality it offered, Freed hadn't been foolish enough to volunteer to go to Northrend like some more of his ambitious colleagues. He had yet to hear of a single one that had come back…

But that left him to deal with the civil war erupting between the Elf bitch and those still loyal to the Master, which lead to more and more high ranking Necromancers being drawn from the Ghostlands to fight the so-called 'Forsaken', allowing Freed to rise through the ranks to his current position. Now he just had to work to deal with the pretentious Dar'Khan, and whatever schemes he was trying to 'subtly' work with the Sunwell and the remaining Blood Elves, and then his ascension as a Liche was assured.

"What are your orders Master? Shall I tell the others to empower the attack order spells?" The grovelling of one of the Necromancers, who served as his aides and general seconds in order to curry his favour, almost had him snap at her for distracting him from his thoughts.

He was tempted to ignore Dar'Khan's instructions, after all the mere presence of so many Scourge at their walls should distract the so called 'Blood Elves' from whatever the traitor Elf was planning, and it left the possibility that the Blood Elves might actually deal with his 'boss' for him.

But as Freed's keen eyes surveyed the field, he caught sight of a group of people making their way hurriedly across the wasteland in front of Silvermoon's walls, coming from the small isle to the West and South of Silvermoon that the Blood Elves had retaken over the past week. Activating an enchanted telescope at his waist with a mental command of his magic, the item flew up to his left eye, and the group came into much clearer focus.

After looking over the group of almost 50 people for a few seconds, Freed almost ignored them. To catch them before they reached the walls, he would have to charge his ghouls and other cannon fodder forward at full pace, which would leave them exposed without support from the abominations and the corpse wagons. But as he reached the rear of the group, Freed noticed that a number of those fleeing for the walls weren't wearing the bright and ostentatious colours the Blood Elves seemed to prefer, even when they were living like rats in the ruins of their former city.

Instead of the panicked actions of those in front of them, the group of black clothed and cloaked individuals moved like a cohesive unit, maintaining a formation around a single figure in the middle, almost like they were acting as guards…

"Launch the attack immediately! All of infantry are to charge, prevent that group reaching the walls. NOW!" Even as his 'aides' spurred themselves into action at his sudden change in mood, Freed was already invoking his powers.

Reaching out into the Dead Scar that split the city in two, Freed found thousands of corpses merely awaiting the opportunity for him to raise them. Straining his power's limits to the maximum, Freed managed to find a group of corpses that belonged to the former 'Silvermoon Royal Guard' that had fallen ahead of the fleeing group.

Whilst the corpses of the dead could only be brought back to their full strength through complex and magic intensive rituals, the more training and skills an individual had before they fell influenced how capable his minions would be when he raised them as more basic undead.

And if he wanted to slow the Elf bitch who now called herself 'Queen' down, enough to overwhelm her with the rest of his forces before she reached 'safety', then he would need a cut above the usual undead cannon fodder that the Scourge used...

!"£$%^&*()_+

"Well Lord Potter's plan is certainly working!" Shia Duskbeam's sarcastic but amused call mirrored Anya's thoughts, as they escorted the few civilians and Rangers who had been working on Eversong isle before the attack, heading towards the Dead Scar that split her former home in twain.

Whereas the Scourge had previously been content to marshall themselves on the nearside of the River Elrendar, when Harry teleported them to an area a couple of miles from Silvermoon City and they started their 'retreat', things changed quickly. She was currently in the middle of their formation, pretending to be their General for the purposes of the charade, Lord Potter's logic that such a tempting target would make the Scourge leaders attack before they were strictly ready.

100 or so undead had been hastily raised in their path, to deny them access to Silvermoon's southern gate no doubt, whilst the swarms of Ghouls and other Scourge were charging towards them as fast as they could from the river. Thankfully Lord Potter hadn't wanted them to retreat to the main gate anyway, so they instead moved into the Dead Scar and retreated as fast as they could up the rather treacherous route.

So many of her brethren had fallen in an attempt to halt the unstoppable path of the Scourge forces that bones, weapons and other debris still littered the depression in the ground, meaning that the group could only move at a quick jog without risk of someone crippling themselves with an injury. Two of the civilian Blood Elves had already injured themselves on the sharp hazards that littered the ground, and that was only slowing them further.

"We are nearly at the wall, do we know what Lord Potter's plan is now Anya?" Shia's call, from where she was leading the Blood Elves at the front, made Anya think for a moment to try and remember the specifics of the plan Lord Potter laid out.

"We continue as far as we can sisters, the path should be easier from here. Pass the gate and towards the Sea, we cannot wait for them to open the gate." They would be cutting it close as it was, the undead high elves who had been raised to prevent their flight to the South gate had now joined the chase, and the fast ghouls were closing more and more by the second.

"Keira, Dia, with me, Shi, take the others, sprint ahead and prepare to cover us. We must slow them down if we are to make it." Turning in the same breath that she issued her orders, Anya pulled out one of the special arrows Lord Potter had given her before he had teleported away.

It was the single strangest arrow she had ever held, no fletching to aid its flight and despite it's slightly larger than normal size, the arrow might as well have weighed nothing in her hands. In a single motion Anya notched her arrow, sighted down the middle of the Dead Scar to where the masses of undead were rapidly approaching, and loosed the weapon after imbuing it with a little of her magic.

Despite its oddness the arrow flew true, though Anya's eyes widened as it suddenly grew to the size of a wagon upon impact with the first Scourge she had targeted, the increase in size causing it to hit the floor and spin on it's axis, crushing dozens of the nearest Scourge.

"That will work Anya, don't suppose you have any more of those from Lord Potter do you? I don't think that is going to slow them enough for us to escape yet." That was true enough, the Scourge were already beginning to pour around the new obstacle, but it had bought them precious seconds.

Anya did have two more, though now she knew what they did she wanted to try and save at least one of them. And it wasn't as if they are helpless by themselves, they were the honour guard of Lady Windrunner after all. Summoning her mana as her General had taught her, Anya fired a bolt of pure darkness from her bow, the spell streaking across the ground with unnatural speed, smaller bolts of darkness shooting off to strike the Scourge it passed on its path.

Whilst the smaller bolts would not fell the Scourge they hit, the magic would slow them down, the main bolt hitting a Nerubian webspinner before exploding in a wave of magical shrapnel and energy.

"Each of you fire a Black arrow, and then we fall back to the others. We save Lord Potter's enchanted weapons for emergencies." And if that meant she had them to take with her when they finished here, then that was just a bonus, perhaps the Mages of the Undercity could decipher its secrets for them to use in their own battles.

The other two nodded in understanding and quickly followed her orders, unleashing two more Black arrows at five second intervals. The newly raised dead were getting dangerously close now, but they were now being fired upon from the walls, so hopefully that would slow them down somewhat. As she watched, a boulder the size of a corpse cart suddenly appeared in mid-air from the direction of the wall, slamming into the middle of the former Royal Guard as they rushed towards them, scattering more than a dozen of them into the air from it's impact alone.

There was no time for Anya to think any further on the matter, as she turned away from the encroaching Scourge to charge up the slightly more even ground of the Dead Scar into what was once Silvermoon's main street. She still had memories of this place, long before the coming of the Scourge and its degradation to the pitiful state it was in now, happier times…

They continued to fall back in groups up the Dead Scar, though Anya had to use one of Lord Potter's special arrows to buy them the time to do so, and as she turned to fall back for the 5th or sixth time she could  _hear_  the ravenous groans of the Scourge following behind her.

"By the Sunwell..." Shia's gasped exclamation was all Anya caught as she sprinted past the waiting Dark Rangers, the rain of Black arrows flying as a swarm rather than one or two at a time. As she reached roughly 100 metres past where the others had stopped, Anya turned to prepare to fire once more, her breath catching in her throat as she realised exactly what Shia had been so surprised by.

Whoever was in charge of the Scourge forces evidently wanted General Windrunner dead more than they wanted to crush the Blood Elves, as literally thousands of Scourge were beginning to pour into the gap between the two walls, the Dead Scar invisible to her eyes under the weight of bodies that wanted their heads. Either that, or they thought that they could attack the gates as she and her sisters fled through them, but Anya felt it was more likely to be the former point rather than the latter.

"Run, everyone. Run!" There was no time for a fighting withdrawal anymore, they'd given the retreating Blood Elves as much time as they could, if they tried to delay any longer then they would be enveloped in the swarm.

No one needed any encouragement, Anya and the other two Dark Rangers firing off as many Black arrows as they could over the next ten seconds, before joining the others in their flight. She only hoped that Lord Potter was as powerful as General Windrunner had implied to them, otherwise their retreat was only buying them a few minutes.

As they ran up the long depression, Anya could suddenly make out Lord Potter ahead, the man stood in the middle of the Dead Scar and surrounded by burning candles and burnt scrolls. Anya wasn't as magically sensitive as some of her fellow Dark Rangers, as she preferred to rely on her other senses even in death. But even she could see the magic radiating off and around the human, it was strong enough to make a manifestation of itself, in the form of a giant snake like creature.

The Blood Elves had already passed him, careful despite their panic to avoid disrupting whatever spell or ritual Lord Potter was preparing, Anya only hoped that he was nearly done.

" **Akash, Nokatal, Umensch Ho'Kanan!"** It hurt Anya's ears to hear Lord Potter's chanting as she reached him, as if the language itself was not meant for hearing.

With a start, she realised with a start that the energy she could feel radiating from him was Necromantic magic as well as elemental magic, something she had never heard a non-Scourge human using effectively.

As the last of the Dark Rangers sprinted past the ritual site, the snake like creature began to uncoil from it's position around the human, the dark energy that made up its manifestation sucking the Necromantic Magic from the ground of the Dead Scar around it to increase it's size. Anya suddenly noticed she could feel a pull upon her own magic, specifically the ambient 'curse' that kept her soul within her dead body, which made her eyes widen and caused her to turn to the other Dark Rangers.

"Keep going, whatever spell Lord Potter is using affects the dead!" Anya wasn't one to boast, but she was one of General Windrunner's most powerful acolytes, both before and after they died defending Silvermoon.

So if it was affecting her, then it would be deadly to the other Dark Rangers soon enough. Pulling back another 20 feet, and feeling the effects of the 'pull' substantially decrease, Anya then turned her attention to the Scourge Swarm. It had been slowed by the appearance of what appeared to be pit traps and walls, but it was getting terrifyingly close to the mage they were pinning their hopes on.

As the swarm of undead got within 10 feet of Lord Potter, the man suddenly slammed his hands into the ground with the snake following his movements, and the ground  _shook_. Anya stumbled as the entire section of the Dead Scar inside the City's boundary engulfed the attacking Scourge like a monstrous wave, before what must have been several thousand tonnes of blighted Earth and minerals surged downwards along the Scar.

"By the Gods…" It was one of the most impressive magical displays Anya had ever seen, whilst the Magister's of Quel'thalas had been able to construct entire streets of buildings in a day or so, nothing they had ever done had been this… destructive.

Now she understood why Lord Potter had wanted them to lure the Scourge into the Dead Scar, as she stared down the massive channel that had been opened between the two halves of the city. She could see that Lord Potter had not only used the earthen attack to defeat the Scourge, but as the Earthen Surge poured outwards into the Ghostlands beyond Silvermoon's Southern wall, it was clear he had removed every piece of the corrupted Earth inside Silvermoon.

"What is he doing?" Looking over at Shia's questioning cry, Anya saw that Lord Potter was still chanting, his face ashen in colour and blood dripping from his nose.

"Look, the gate!" Allera's call dragged Anya's eyes from the human who had just solved more of the Blood Elves' problems than any other human in history, and she could see what the surprise in the Dark Ranger's tone was for.

As most of the blackened earth settled into the Dead Scar between Silvermoon and the River Elrendar, it's job of crushing at least a quarter of the attacking Scourge accomplished quite handily, some of it remained by the ruins of Silvermoon City's Blazing Gate. As Anya watched, the earth morphed and sculpted itself into a structure that dwarfed the former 'shining example of High Elven strength and endurance', whichthe Blazing Gate had been referred to upon it's completion almost two millenia before.

It stretched at least four metres above the walls on the Eastern side of the city, with two towers on either side of the space left for a gate, complete with imposing battlements and other defences. It's black stone structure almost glowing with a dark light, and Anya couldn't be sure from this distance but she felt she could almost see crystals visible in the structure of the gatehouse. There was no gate of course, that would have to be constructed later, but the combined efforts of eliminating the Dead Scar from the city, the destruction of the Scourge attack and the creation of the new Grand Gatehouse made a very clear statement.

Anya was the first to notice Lord Potter's collapse out of the corner of her eye, and with a newfound respect for a living human that she thought would be impossible to muster, she rushed over to check on him. The massive amount of magic he had used had caused quite the bit of damage, and without thinking of her previous fears Anya grasped the small ring Lord Potter had given each of them before leaving them to bait the trap.

"I am taking him to get treated. Work round to the Seaward gate if you can, there is no way we are getting back to the battle through the gateway." That was an understatement, the new gorge in the earth in front of her was already starting to fill with water, obviously Lord Potter had dug deeply enough to reach the water table.

Without waiting for a response, Anya sent some magic into the small item now clenched into her left hand, her right grasped firmly around Lord Potter's cloak. She only hoped that wherever the item would take them was somewhere that had a healer…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I had a choice in this chapter, whether to have Harry face off against Dar'Khan again, or to help defend Silvermoon city from the attacking Scourge.
> 
> Those who have read the Sunwell trilogy will be questioning where the Scourge assault comes from, but in my head it makes sense for Dar'Khan to use it to distract the Blood Elves from trying to stop him. Imagine in WoW if you had to split a raid in two or more groups, where each section of a raid had to succeed in multiple parallel objectives on different parts of the map (like out of sight of each other) to complete the quest chain against a timer? (If this already happens, sorry.)
> 
> What did people think of my way of introducing Sylvanas properly? I tried to avoid making her a damsel in distress, merely caught up in a Scourge assault at exactly the wrong time. Did it work?
> 
> I haven't written the fight on Quel'danar, and to be honest I probably won't, we will see it more as an 'aftermath' type event done from Sylvanas/Lor'themar's point of view. The next chapter will see some more new characters from the Sunwell trilogy, two of which will be of particular use/interest to Harry and vice versa.
> 
> On a more serious note, I have to offer an apology now. I have recently bought a house, which all of a sudden means I have suddenly got to worry about this whole 'being an adult and managing my budget' thing. I know I don't post regularly, but this is me letting you guys know that that rate is going to drop significantly going forward.
> 
> I did set up P a treon account, but I don't think what I offer on here is going to be worth people spending money on. Though, if you want to check it out, it is the same username as I use here. Perhaps I am being overly pessimistic.
> 
> I have muscled through all of my working stories to provide you with a new chapter for each of them, I hope you all enjoy them, and apologies for the bad news.


	18. And from Ashes Springs Hope

**The Needle of Clay, During the Scourge Attack**

**Terran Advisor and translator, Nash'ala**

"There's too many of the… Argh!" Even as the panicked cry of one of the Blood Elves manning the Needle's wall was cut off, blood spurting from the gaping wound in his chest caused by the gargoyle trying to force it's way into the tower, Nash'ala did her best to ignore her own fear in her chest.

" _Depulso!"_ Not all of Harry's spells worked when Nash'ala tried them in Najza, but those that did were more powerful than they were when she tried them in common, which was shown when the gargoyle was sent flailing back out into the storm of undead flyers.

"Nash'ala, we're ready!" Coira's call, from where she was pulling one of her daggers from the body of a fallen Blood Elf a Necromancer had just tried to reanimate, made Nash'ala look back to the two siege weapons mounted at the front of the Needle.

The first, a large ballista type weapon, had already been used to attack the Scourge rushing into Harry's trap, the shrunken boulder expanding with a simple 'finite' to the size of a wagon. But it was the second weapon, a bolt throwing machine that held twenty of the bolts she and Harry had spent several hours creating, that now had a clear path for firing out of the tower.

Sweeping her staff in front of her, Nash'ala coiled her tail under her for a moment before shooting in the direction of the bolt thrower, Coira aiming the weapon up as her staff touched the Runes on the 'trigger' on top of the weapon.

Twenty bolts shot outwards of the bolt thrower, but as each one passed through the enchanted battlements at the edge of the tower, each of those bolts was enlarged to the size of a spear as the shrinking charms were removed, and duplications of these spears appeared above, below, left and right of the original score. This cross of destruction cleared a bloody path through the flyers in front of the Needle in an instant, before scything down into the ranks of the Spider creatures and Necromancers, who had obviously thought themselves beyond the reach of any Elven archers.

"That got their attention! Reload as fast as you can!" Coira wasn't wrong, even as Nash'ala swung the ballista around to fire off another Boulder.

Though there was almost a pause in the Scourge attack for several moments, probably due to the death of some Necromancers commanding the undead flying beasts attacking with the Gargoyles, there were suddenly A LOT more creatures flying their way.

Then there was a violent shudder, which knocked every single person in the tower off their feet other than Nash'ala, though even she struggled to maintain her 'footing'. It was as she saw a wave of earth shoot out of the Dead Scar, which dwarfed her even stood upon the top of the Needle, that she realised what had just happened.

There was no time to think about the  _awe inspiring_  attack however, Nash'ala sweeping round to assess the situation in the Needle with a glance, her staff already glowing with magic as she saw more Gargoyles trying to burst into the Needle. The first bolt of magic wasn't a spell Harry had taught her, instead one of the Naga spells that she had learnt before being bound, the bolt of ice slamming into a gargoyle's face and almost splitting it in two.

Two banishing spells dealt with the immediate threat of the gargoyles, though even as the Blood Elf defenders forced themselves to their feet, Nash'ala knew they would be disoriented for several key seconds. As the only one who was capable of doing something in that key frame of time, Nash'ala decided to take a fin from Harry's head, and go  _large…_

Even as she started to chant, words in Najza coming back to her with startling ease, she felt the wind pick up around her. It took a few moments, as she wrested control of the wind from it's natural intent to wrap around her protectively, and instead extending the power outwards to beyond the tower.

"Nash'ala… It's working! And with what Harry did…" Even Coira seemed lost for words, which was something that Nash'ala had thought impossible, though the Farstrider was aware enough to move to intercept one of the few remaining Gargoyles in the tower.

It was exhilarating, even as she felt the wind slam into the flurries of gargoyles outside the tower, and she had to resist the urge to pump more magic into the spell than she needed to. The last thing she wanted to do was do a Harry and collapse after completing the spell, she didn't think she would have quite his seeming inability to die going for her.

It was exhausting her Magical reserves already, but the localised storm had served it's purpose and given the defenders a chance to regroup after being knocked off their feet, the two Novice Farstriders Coira had requisitioned reloading the siege weapons as quickly as they could. 10 seconds later and Nash'ala had to cease her spell, her breathing ragged and her vision a little blurry as the wind started to die down.

"They're retreating!" The cry from one of the Blood Elves was reinforced by the lack of Gargoyles sweeping in, to mutilate the foolish woman for looking out over the wall so obviously.

And though Nash'ala wanted to do nothing more than rest, she moved towards the bolt thrower. They should be able to get at least two shots off before the Scourge got out of range, then she could close her eyes for a few minutes...

!"£$%^&*()_+

**Outskirts of Silvermoon City, Three Days after Scourge Assault**

**Banshee General, Sylvanas Windrunner**

"Pull lads! This Gate isn't going to get itself into position on it's own! One, two, heave!" The boisterous shouting of the Blood Elf foreman, leading the efforts to lift the second of the enormous gates into place, fit the chaos going on around Sylvanas remarkably well.

It was part of the Blood Elves attempt to 'finish' intimidating 'Death Gate' Lord Potter had created, though given it currently lead to a rather deep lake there would need to be some extra magic required, for it to function suitably as a gateway into the City. But given the defeat of the Scourge assault, as well as the revitalisation of Northern Quel'thalas by Anveena, the Blood Elves were too busy to worry about that for now.

Every free Blood Elf man and woman, and some of the older children if Sylvanas were to guess, were working to deal with the aftermath of the Scourge invasion from three days ago. Hundreds of them were still salvaging weapons, armour and other valuables from the slain undead, whilst the stronger souls amongst the Blood elf workforce helped to pull and load the corpse carts, which had been left behind by the attacking Scourge forces when they had fled the field of battle.

"Lady Sylvanas." Sylvanas had been aware of Lor'themar approaching, even without Shia alerting her with subtle hand signals.

The increased activity and calls of the Blood Elves, behind the newly created hill of corrupted Earth she was sat at the base of, was more than a little bit of a give away.

"Lord Regent, I assume from your arrival the retaking of the River crossings is progressing well." Whilst she had originally travelled here to assess the Blood Elves situation, in a formal capacity rather than what the Horde agents within the city had already been providing, Sylvanas knew that the original plan of a week spent 'investigating' would have to be delayed to another time.

"Well enough, most of the Scourge elite forces made it back over the river. But, given the number of corpses my people are working their way through, I think enough damage has been done for the moment. We currently are counting roughly 40,000 'dead', and that's not including the massive number that Lord Potter's ritual crushed, or the impact Dar'Khan's death will have on local Scourge forces. Once my people have reclaimed anything that is usable, the fires we set will burn for days…"

It was certainly the largest single engagement against the Scourge, since Sylvanas and the Forsaken had broken free of the Liche King's hold. And, given the Blood Elf death toll was barely into the hundreds, it was probably the least costly battle recorded against the undead since before the destruction of Lordaeron.

"We were lucky that Lord Potter accepted your offer to visit then. From the rumours my Rangers are already feeding back to me, you would have likely been overrun from the assault otherwise…" That was putting it mildly, and Sylvanas and her Dark Rangers weren't the only ones to realise this.

There was a small but rapidly growing number of Blood Elves petitioning for Lord Potter to gain 'Honoured Ally' status, if what Anya and the others were saying was true. It wasn't something that Sylvanas had been offered, as many Blood Elves still considered her one of their own after all. But even with the knowledge of her own special status, Sylvanas knew she was still a little jealous of the whispered awe the Terran seemed to generate amongst his people wherever he went.

"That is true enough, and the Dwarven engineers his ally Storri arranged for are an unexpected boon as well, though judging by Lord Potter's reaction that is more a political move by the Alliance than an explicit favour of his. The fact that Lord Potter is a known ally of the Night Elves, even if we know he intends to keep his people from joining either side, does complicate matters however." Realising that this conversation was more serious than she had originally anticipated, Sylvanas gracefully rolled herself to feet in a single motion, turning to face the battle scarred Blood Elf Regent.

He had a point, whilst Sylvanas had supplied occasional forces to protect Blood Elf caravans, none of the Horde had ever provided direct assistance to those in Silvermoon itself. Well that wasn't completely true, but every shipment of grain and other supplies had come with a cost, even if it had been at a substantial discount. The fact that the Bronzebeard Dwarves had donated a ship's worth of good quality stone, along with the prestigious construction knowledge of their Engineers,was counting for a lot to the Blood Elf masses.

"Do I need to inform Warchief Doomhammer that you are planning on switching your allegiances to the Alliance Lord Regent? Surely you realise that this single shipment is just an attempt to endear the Dwarves to you, and then once you have taken their offer they will expect far more in repayment…" Lor'themar didn't seem to be seriously concerned with her change in tone, merely shifting the cloak over his right shoulder with his left hand, a small wince the only visible discomfort he showed before looking back at her with a polite smile.

Though given the man had just lost his right arm to Dar'Khan, during their admittedly desperate attack on Quel'danar, Sylvanas supposed she didn't seem that intimidating in comparison. If the traitorous High Elf hadn't been so over confident, merely defending himself and rebuffing them with swarms of fallen High Elves and 'small' spells, he could have wiped them out in minutes.

"Of course we do Lady Windrunner, in fact the letter from King Magni explicitly stated that the donated goods are a one off, merely to re-establish diplomatic communications between our races once more. That is the good thing about Dwarves, especially the Bronzebeards, they rarely try to deceive those that they speak to into thinking they are getting a better deal than they actually are…" It was a diplomatic slight that Lor'themar wouldn't have dared uttering a few months ago, though Sylvanas knew he had a good point, even if she was annoyed that he hadn't mentioned the letter until now.

"Though, King Magni does state that he doesn't expect this, or the trade deal he has offered to begin negotiating with us, to impact our diplomatic ties with 'other groups of our kin and their allies'." Sylvanas couldn't control the eyebrow that shot up in response to this little piece of information, as it was the complete opposite of the move she would have made, if she had been in the Dwarven King's position.

"I thought that might intrigue you Lady Windrunner. It certainly confused a good number of my Council when we discussed the matter yesterday, as we do not see what benefit the Dwarves get out of trading with us, if we become members of the Horde. So, despite your assumption that I would cast aside years of politicking and hard work for some engineers, this doesn't directly affect our discussions regarding the future path of my people." It didn't directly, that much was true, though Sylvanas knew that it did have a large impact unintentionally.

The Horde had been financing a lot of the loans that the Blood Elves had been using to keep their people fed and watered, both because they were cheaper than the goblins, but also because such loans helped the Horde's negotiating position. Whilst she hadn't been in contact with Warchief Thrall or the other leaders since she had arrived, the amount of resources that the Blood Elves were reclaiming would substantially reduce their reliance on such loans.

Between that, and the improved city defences that had been provided by Lord Potter, the Blood Elves actually had something of a power base once more. And all of this had happened with no direct positive input from a member of the Horde, other than her own involvement in dealing with the traitor. There was a delicate balance that now needed to be struck, between getting the best deal for the Horde and the Forsaken, whilst also keeping the Blood Elves sweet enough to avoid them preferring to stay neutral or worse.

"Which I am sure that we will discuss at great length in the coming weeks Lord Regent, though given Lord Potter's elevation in status amongst our kin, I wouldn't be surprised if they desired his input as well. In fact, I am surprised not to see him assisting with matters out here, though given his injuries I suppose it is for the best." The damage cost of whatever spell Lord Potter had cast, to clear the Dead Scar from the city limits but also to construct the Death Gate, had been substantial.

Even the healing powers of his Night Elf companion, and several other priests once the undead had been routed, hadn't been capable of healing all of the damage he sustained straight away. So instead, Lord Potter had been confined to the house that had unofficially become the Terran Embassy for the last two days, something that Sylvanas imagined would highly irritate the young man.

"He is currently talking with Lord Kalec, and from what the Royal Guardians stationed nearby tell me, he has been since before daybreak this morning. I am honestly not entirely sure which of them is more interested in the other. Lord Potter has stated that he will meet with us both after dinner, which I suspect is because he understands you do not enjoy dinner parties the way we used to Lady Windrunner, in the hopes that we can determine where we go from here."

It was unexpected, but also a good show of the man's character, and it was something that senior members of the Horde DID forget on occasion. Sylvanas also suspected the move wasn't entirely Harry's decision, those mirrors he and his Naga friend wore seemed to be communication devices, and they probably weren't the only two the Terrans had.

The move to discuss what to do next was something Lord Potter would probably not have offered, from what she had gleaned from his character during their short interactions, he was too straightforward for that. Whilst many viewed her as scheming and deceitful, Sylvanas only tended to rely on those qualities when she needed to, or at least she thought she did.

To have a new player on the board, one that seemed not only idealistic in beliefs but straightforward in his actions and words, was something she approved of. The fact he was already reducing tensions between some of the races on different 'sides', which he probably didn't realise he was doing, presented an opportunity.

Sylvanas had never voiced this out loud, as it was something that would be seen as 'weak' or 'cowardly' even by some of her own advisors, but she honestly thought the people of Azeroth had bigger things to worry about than the Horde/Alliance 'cold war' as Harry had termed it. This belief was somewhat based on her own desire for vengeance, against Arthas and his bastard master, but it was reinforced by the news the Terrans had brought of the Legion invasion.

"That is thoughtful of him, thank you for passing the invitation on Lord Regent. I do need to see him before then though. He leant enchanted arrows to Ranger Anya, for the trap they played in the Dead Scar, and I do not wish to miss the chance to return the one she didn't use to him as soon as possible." The fact that Anya had wanted to take the weapon back to the Undercity, and had been surprised when Sylvanas took it from her, had been one of the things that had opened Sylvanas' eyes to how far she had fallen.

No, not fallen, willingly delved whilst blinded by her desire for revenge and self hatred for her curse. The fact that Lor'themar had been unable to hide his obvious surprise, at her desire NOT to be a common thief, was merely another stone cast at her wounded pride.

It was another reason Sylvanas wished to get into Harry's good graces, as well prompt him to continue along his path to helping defeat the Scourge and the Burning Legion. No one would believe her if she tried anything to unite the Alliance and the Horde, even temporarily, some of her actions had been more than a little distasteful now that she looked back at things.

"Very well My Lady, please pass on my regards to Lord Potter when you see him." Sylvanas inclined her head and promised she would, but as she stalked away, her mind was already balancing up the pros and cons of her next moves.

The Forsaken wouldn't approve, at least not at first, many of them were far too focussed on revenge or wallowing in self deprecating guilt. But once she showed them a way, in which they could have their revenge against Arthas and his ilk  _without_ turning into something as bad as the Scourge themselves, hopefully they would understand her choices and side with her once more.

If not, then Sylvanas would have some difficult decisions about where her own loyalties actually lay. Though, perhaps there was a way to earn some more trust from Lord Potter and the other leaders of the Horde at the same time, whilst testing the 'loyalty' of her right hand at the same time...

!"£$%^&*()_+

' **The Potter House', an hour later**

**Farstrider, Coira Lightblade**

"What do you mean I can't see him?" Lady Liadrin clearly hadn't learned from her original embarrassment in front of the Council, having been stood outside the house in the Court of the Sun that Harry was using at his base, her loud protesting to the two Guardians outside the house distracting to those inside.

"Lord Potter is resting, and working on research for his own people Lady Liadrin, and so those who he has listed to come visit him is restricted. Given that you have no knowledge or skills that will assist in either of those endeavours, you are not on that list." So, rather than let Nash'ala or Harry deal with it, she and Kelanas had taken it upon themselves to act in their place

Harry having spent most of the last two days talking with the Blue Dragon Kalec, when he probably should have been resting, and contacting Lady Bones via his wrist mirror system. What he discussed wasn't covered in much detail, as she still knew very little of the Terran's own language, but Coira knew from the message she had relayed to the Lord Regent that something big had happened that required immediate discussion.

"... I see, and I don't suppose there is anyway I could impress the importance of destroying the remaining Ziggurat with his Death Magic would have on our people's morale?" Coira expected Lady Liadrin to lose her temper again, or at least be offended at the summary dismissal, so the loud sigh and the visible deflation of the haughty Blood Elf's posture was a nice alternative.

"I assume the fact you are using the correct name for his art is a sign you have understood where you were previously mistaken? I am surprised that Regent Lor'themar sent you to make this request, given your first meeting with Lord Potter I would have thought it would be more tactful for another member of the Council to broach the issue." Lady Liadrin flushed slightly, no doubt at the reminder of her attempt to kill Harry, but also probably for the fact that the Lord Regent had in fact authorised no such thing at all.

If he had wanted to ask Harry of such a boon, Lor'themar would have done it in person, and definitely wouldn't have risked Harry's ire by sending one of the Blood Elves Harry disliked to ask in his stead. But, just because Coira knew these things didn't mean she would make it obvious, it was a chance to assess Lady Liadrin's intent if nothing else.

"The Lord Regent… The Lord Regent isn't aware of this request, because I do not believe that our people have anything left to offer Lord Potter or his people in our present situation that we do not already owe. I was going to make the request as Commander of the Blood Knights instead, and ask Lord Potter to name his price for his assistance."

Coira liked to think she had fairly good control over her emotions, but one of Harry's greatest detractors amongst the Blood Elves coming to him metaphorically on her hands and knees was enough to break the facade for a few moments, as she gave a fairly obvious look of surprise. Lady Liadrin grimaced as Coira got her emotions back under control, obviously she didn't like the weakness her current position heaped upon her in the slightest, though the fact she have revealed it at all made it clear how serious she was being.

"That is quite the offer, but if you are of the opinion that the people of Silvermoon cannot offer anything more in return for Lord Potter's work, why would your organisation be able to instead?" Kelanas clearly wanted to ask more, the Night Elf perceptive enough to ask the question most would have skipped over, but she cut herself off as Lady Sylvanas appeared using the portkey Lord Potter had provided her with.

Coira and Kelanas had also been provided with Portkeys, though their Portkeys actually took them inside the residence, rather than the front door. Storri had also been given one, but given he hadn't returned yet, the Dwarf was probably too busy getting drunk in a tavern somewhere. It saved them walking through the city if they wanted to use the time more effectively, though given it only came to the one location its usefulness was limited.

"Ranger General." Though she no longer officially held the title, Coira had served under Sylvanas even before the fall of Quel'thalas, and respect was the least she could offer to her former commander.

It took a moment, Coira knew from experience that Harry's portkey magic was debilitating to even the most prepared of them, but Sylvanas shook off the disorientation to peruse her with a small smile. It was the first time they had officially met since before the fall of Quel'thalas, though Coira couldn't really call the three prior meetings to that meetings, as she had merely been one of the many Farstriders that Sylvanas perused during her occasional tours of the Farstrider defences.

"Apologies Farstrider, I know your face, but death does not help with recalling of the details of my former life. You served in the Recon detachment correct? You certainly do not have the demeanour of a Royal Guardsman, and the stories about Lord Potter make no mention of a Blood Elf, so you are no front line fighter…" The fact that Lady Sylvanas remembered her at all was enough for Coira, the woman's ability to make educated guesses and decide tactics based on very little information something that had made her such an impressive Commander and leader.

"I did General, Farstrider Coira Lightblade. I was under Ranger Captain Shadowbreeze during the Fall." Despite the comments about the leader of the Forsaken being an emotionless husk of her former self, Coira found the small bittersweet smile that crossed Sylvanas' face to be more than enough expression for the rather stoic General.

"I remember your regiment, you performed very well during the Second War against the Orcs from what I remember. Still, I will not impede on Lady Liadrin's time any further, I have something of Lord Potter's that he gave to one of my Rangers. I would like to return it and speak with him if I may?" Coira was unsure how to answer that, as lady Slyvanas wasn't on the list of people Harry had said should be permitted entry, though given that list was pretty much the four of them and the Lord Regent that didn't actually mean very much.

The sound of the door opening behind them saved her from trying to come up with a diplomatic answer. Harry's voice making her smile slightly without realising it, even as she turned to face him.

"Lady Sylvanas, I felt your arrival. Kalec and I are pretty much done for the moment, the only thing I can do now is practice." Harry looked more at ease than he had done in weeks, despite the fact he was still recovering, moving out of the house with the aforementioned Kalec behind him.

Coira still struggled to comprehend the fact that the tall man in plate armour was in fact a Blue Dragon in disguise, but Kalec didn't seem to care about his almost mythical status, something that seemed to endear him to Harry more than anything else.

"Practice Lord Potter? Given the levels of magic that you have unleashed so far…" Lady Liadrin trailed off as everyone turned in her direction at the comment, Kalec's chuckle saving the woman from any further embarrassment.

"Lord Potter's magic is certainly unique, though from what he tells me many of his fellow Terrans are capable of similarly unique magical spells and rituals. It is one of the reasons I requested Tyri to return to Lord Malecagos, rather than follow her own plans for the moment. Such potential for new magics and lore cannot be pushed to one side, and I imagine my Lord will take a personal interest in such travellers. Still, it is clear that they have much they can learn from us as well, when they finally manage to escape from the Legion and arrive in Azeroth." There was stunned silence for several moments, everyone seemingly struggling to comprehend what Kalec had just said.

"Which is what Kalec has been assisting me with, I believe with the Blue Dragonflight's knowledge and assistance I should be able to create a Portal for my people to travel through. It will take some time for my people to build the necessary Gateways, but it should be no longer than a few weeks." Harry obviously didn't see the potential appearance of a Dragonflight Aspect appearing on Azeroth to speak to him as a big thing, so decided to instead carry on dropping knowledge that was the equivalent of earth shaking.

"How can the Blood Elves assist you Lord Potter?" It was a sign that Lady Liadrin was not only changing her opinion of the one she formerly viewed as a Necromancer, but also knew exactly where the political winds were blowing in Silvermoon right now, as such an offer meant that she could maneuver herself and the Blood Knights into a more favourable light.

"I need to speak with Lord Theron about the specifics, though if you wish I can ask for you to attend as well Lady Liadrin. It was part of the reason I asked to meet with you this evening Lady Sylvanas, as I was going to request that we portal back to Terra's Point before returning here to head to your home."

Coira barely held back the smile that threatened her lips as Harry neatly dodged Lady Liadrin's attempt to secure the Blood Knights as the initial source of aid, whilst allowing her a potential advantage if she wished to try and ingratiate herself to both himself and the Lord Regent. Whether he realised that was what he had done was another question, but Lady Liadrin didn't seem overly upset her ploy had failed.

"Of course Lord Potter, I will go and speak with the Lord Regent now, though I will leave out any specifics other than you might have help to request from us. After all you have done for Silvermoon City, it is the least we can offer you." It seemed that Lady Liadrin was prepared to leave her own request for help on the wayside for now, though Coira made a mental note to speak to Harry about it when the opportunity arose.

"Thank you Lady Liadrin, Lord Kalec. I look forward to discussing more with both of you in future. Lady Sylvanas, why don't we discuss things further inside?" Lady Liadrin looked a little put out at the blunt dismissal, but that was very much how Harry was, Kalec merely grasping Harry's offered hand in a firm shake.

"Of course Lord Potter, when I am sure that Anveena will be safe I will travel to see you personally, if Lord Malecagos doesn't intervene directly before then and request my presence directly." With the Blue Dragon not taking offence, Lady Liadrin similarly took her dismissal with an attempt at good grace, bowing low as Harry stood to the side to allow Lady Sylvanas entrance to the Terran House.

"Lord Potter." Lady Sylvanas wasn't quick to offer her own people's support, as she entered the house with a slight spring in her step, but that was just as much sound politics as it was reservations on her Ranger General's behalf.

Coira and Kelanas followed her in, having learnt that Harry's attempts to be a 'gentlemen' outstripped their stubbornness to try and follow their own codes about Lords and other high ranking officials. She wasn't sure what this 'gentleman' things was, but as Harry smiled at her on the way in, she was finding that she rather liked it…

!"£$%^&*()_+

**The Potter House, 5 minutes later**

**The Phantom of Earth, Harry Potter**

"I thought we would have more time…" It was not exactly what Harry expected Sylvanas to open with, the pair of them retiring to what had quickly become his 'work study', a large room with an impressive black marble table he had quite literally grown out of the floor.

"What do you mean Lady Sylvanas?" Some people might have taken her particular comment the wrong way, but Harry had an educated guess at what she actually meant, based on the conversations he had with Nash'ala after Kalec revealed he knew the magic that would allow them to create their own portals off world.

Though the news that he could now save his people was the sort of news that should have him dancing around the room cackling, Harry was well aware that their plan to ingratiate himself and therefore the Terrans to the various nations across Azeroth was now very much running out of time.

"I, I had hoped… I had hoped that you would be able to assist my people, in much the same way that you have the Blood Elves here." That wasn't the whole truth, and Harry didn't need his powers to tell him that, for a dead woman Sylvanas sometimes very much wore her heart out on her sleeve.

"Well, given that the Blood Elves are a prospective Horde member, I would have to be careful not to have my assistance perceived as aligning my own people one way or another…" To his surprise Sylvanas didn't look upset at his delicate attempt to distance himself from her people's allegiances, and instead looked contemplative.

"That is a good point, and one that I had not considered. Lord Potter, I know that you will not have heard great things about the Forsaken…" That was putting it mildly, some of the things that Storri had to say about the Forsaken's actions were either blatant propaganda or terrifyingly dark if true.

Realising the pause wasn't just for effect, and that Sylvanas was looking at him with the slightest worried frown on her brow, Harry decided honesty was best to see where Sylvanas was going with this.

"I have heard some of the rumours about the Forsaken ambushing Alliance caravans, though I am far more concerned about the idea that your people are creating alternate versions of the Plague that originally brought the Scourge about in the first place…" He in fact hadn't heard any such rumour, even from Storri, but it was pretty much the worst thing that he or Susan could imagine the Forsaken doing.

The flash of fear, as well as the guilt behind it, told Harry more than he probably wanted to know, but the emotions were firmly stomped on a moment later. Harry honestly didn't know how he should react, given the Scourge Plague so readily decimated the people on Earth, the idea of someone willingly creating another one was almost unimaginable to him.

"We... We have created several different versions of the original plague that made us what we are now, though it was with the intent of trying to find a cure, or a way to return us back to more than just this half life we suffer in now." Her admittance was both a salve to his anger, but also fuel for the fire, as Harry could already envision her next words.

"And, in the name of 'The Greater Good of the Forsaken', when the attempts to cure yourselves failed…" He was trapping her in a corner, as she either carried on and potentially exposed her people as the monsters that Storri and even Kelanas viewed them as, or she could try and change the topic and leave him to make his own negative conclusions.

"There has been talk about using the Plague on our enemies, and the Scourge forces that still dominate Lordaeron, to free some of our Fallen kin as well as boosting our numbers. But, given the risks of starting a war with the Alliance if the Plague were to spread, I have not given my agreement to any such actions." That wasn't the same as saying it hadn't happened without her permission Harry noted, too used to Blaise's double talk to miss such a thing even now, but at least she wasn't trying to justify her actions in the same way Dumbledore used to.

"Well, at least you understand why I would find such an action anathema and aren't trying to excuse yourself." As Sylvanas seemed to relax slightly, Harry knew he needed to make his stance on the matter clear on the matter now.

"However, let me make one thing clear. If I find that the Forsaken have unleashed a version of the Plague on  _anyone_  that isn't already a Scourge member, or a willing volunteer, any and all agreements and friendships we reach are  **done**. You have seen what I can do, and even I don't truly understand what I can do with Death Magic yet. Do not force me to become the enemy of the Forsaken Sylvanas, and do not assume that I will allow myself to bend on this issue, you will not like the results."

It was probably the first time, since staring down Fandral Staghelm at least, that Harry completely ignored his basic training in etiquette and diplomacy his allies and wives had given him. But as Sylvanas struggled to rein in her anger and shock, Harry was firm in his belief that this wasn't the time for flowery words and insinuations.

Whilst Sylvanas was normal enough for an undead, even if she was considerably darker than what would normally be considered 'normal', from what she and others had told him she and her Dark Rangers were considered amongst the 'lighter' of the Forsaken forces. So if she couldn't deal with that kind of condition, then there was no hope that the Terran's would be able to amicably deal with the Forsaken.

"That is asking a lot Lord Potter, one would almost think it was too far, for a man trying to find allies for his refugee people." Despite her angry tone, Sylvanas didn't actually seem too upset at his blunt promise, if anything she seemed almost… amused.

"Allies without similar morals and ideals aren't worth the paper the treaty is written on Lady Sylvanas, it is best that our people are not forced into an Alliance that neither side agree with for the sake of 'convenience' or 'short term gains'. You were once surprised by me speaking my mind, without any view of judging people because of something they cannot control, and you will find that I am exactly the opposite in regards to what people  **do**..."

Rather than elicit more anger, or perhaps even a cold dismissal of what many would consider an attempt to control her and her people with the threat of violence, Sylvanas  _smiled…_

"At least you are forthright even when you know it will not earn you any friends. I assume you are reading my emotions even now, like Nash'ala told the Horde Leaders that you could do?" Harry nodded a little uncertainly, the amusement and almost vindictive glee resonating in her emotions a far cry from the emotions she expected.

"Then the first thing we can do on our way to creating this alliance you spoke of is visit the Undercity with the rest of the Horde Leaders, if you can create a portal to Orgrimmar before returning to your home. I have had more than one of the other leaders express their concerns about some of my… advisors. And having someone who can read emotions will be a very good way of proving that there isn't any such issue…"

Though being able to prove her people's loyalty through an independent source such as himself was an interesting way of gaining 'points', with both himself and the rest of the Horde at the same time, Harry could tell by simply looking at her face there was more than that to it.

"And if these advisors are the threat that the other leaders perceive them to be?" Rather than dampen Lady Sylvanas' mood with his question, if anything, her grin became more predatory.

"Well then it is a good job I will have 4 of the strongest warriors on Azeroth, along with all their bodyguards, to help me with any ' _dangerous radicals'_..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: There have been people who have been pointing out that I am rather determinedly ignoring several large dark parts of the WoW universe, particularly related to what some of the different races get up to (Forsaken and the Plague, Blood Elves and the Naaru/Fel Crystals etc etc.)
> 
> Much of that is wilful ignorance, I am not here to write a super gritty story, nor one where you have to analyse every word to try and work out if someone is hiding something. There will be plots, there will be drama, because otherwise it won't be a story. But the entire point of this kind of story is to see the impact that the Terrans will bring to the table that is Azerothian politics.
> 
> Anyway, back to the chapter. Did people enjoy my special weapons? Harry and the others have now spent considerable time with a bunch of muggles, who having seen magic in action have gone 'What about doing this?'.
> 
> There are actually a bunch of more ridiculous ideas I came up with, that would basically make any city they were employed in pretty much impregnable (repeater bolt thrower style machine gun emplacements with bolts expanding to the size of wagons on impact anyone?), which I will not be using. Whilst I like the ideas, they very much skew the balance of power to the point that mana bombs look relatively normal…
> 
> Still, the Terrans may set some of them up when they move across! We are finally making progress on getting the Terrans across to Azeroth now! Now Harry just has to:
> 
> Finish visiting all the different nations
> 
> Make enough friends that no one will decide to try and take the Terran's out for 'fun'
> 
> Work out where the Terran's are actually going to call home
> 
> You know, small things…
> 
> Big thanks to Treant Balewood, Eirik, Thomas Smith and Druid, for being supporters of my work. I'm still getting goosebumps when I write stuff like that. :P And if anyone wants to become a Fanling of mine (see previous chapter and/or search 'Defiasstone2' on Google and begins with a P), I would be hugely grateful.
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you think boys and girls!
> 
> Defias Out!


End file.
